Delhi HC extends interim protection from arrest to Puja Khedkar till August 29

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Wednesday extended the interim protection from arrest granted to suspended Indian Administrative (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar till August 29 in a case registered against her for fraudulently availing attempts in the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) examination beyond the permissible limit by faking her identity.

A bench of justice Subramonium Prasad extended the protection after Khedkar’s counsel sought time to respond to the affidavit filed by UPSC opposing her anticipatory bail and file the response. 

Representing Khedkar, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra submitted that the commission had served the affidavit yesterday in the evening and he thus needed time to go through the same.

The high court fixed August 29 as the next date of hearing while extending the interim protection from arrest.

Khedkar had approached the Delhi high court against the city court’s order refusing to grant her anticipatory bail. The city court, while denying bail to her on August 1, had noted that her custodial interrogation was required to unearth the whole conspiracy since she had not only cheated and defrauded the UPSC but also snatched the lawful rights of eligible aspirants with benchmark disabilities.

In her petition to the high court, Khedkar has claimed that the case against her registered by the Delhi police is based on false, improbable, and impossible facts. The petition underscored that the allegations in the first information report (FIR) do not substantiate the essential elements of the offence alleged against her.

On August 12, the high court, while granting interim protection from arrest to Khedkar till August 21, had asked the Delhi police and UPSC to file their response as to why her custody was required to unearth the conspiracy.

Justice Prasad had opined that the case against her “primarily seemed to be with regards to giving false representation in the application form”.

Khedkar has been accused of faking her identity to get more attempts in the UPSC examination than the number of attempts already allotted and has been charged with a commission of an offense punishable under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) Indian Penal Code; 66D Information Technology Act, and 89 and 91 Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016.

The high court had said that though the trial court held that Khedkar faked her identity to in the UPSC examination than the number of attempts already allotted, it failed to discuss in detail the reasons regarding refusal of bail.

Also Read: UPSC opposes Puja Khedkar’s anticipatory bail, says custodial interrogation needed

In its affidavit filed on August 20, the UPSC had opposed pre-arrest bail, saying that her custodial interrogation is required to “unearth” the truth relating to the persons who hatched a design that enabled her to secure her provisional selection in CSE-2022 and collect sufficient evidence to establish the same.

In an affidavit, the UPSC stated that the gravity of the fraud committed by Khedkar is unprecedented in nature, as it was not only committed against the commission, whose traditions are untrammeled and unparalleled, but also against the public at large, including the citizens of the country who have faith in the commission’s credibility.

The prosecution’s case against Khedkar is that she had already exhausted all the permissible attempts available to PWBD+OBC candidates (nine attempts) by CSE 2020, and she was not eligible further to appear for CSE 2021; however, she deliberately changed her name in the year 2021 and appeared in CSE 2021, 2022, and 2023 by making “incorrect or false statements regarding the number of attempts already availed by her.”

On July 31, the UPSC issued a press release cancelling her candidature after Khedkar had failed to respond to the UPSC’s show cause notice issued on July 18 “for fraudulently availing attempts beyond the permissible limit provided for in the Civil Service Examination 2022 Rules, by faking her identity.”

The commission’s investigation was hindered by the fact that Khedkar had changed not only her name but also her parents’ names, making it difficult to detect the number of attempts she had made.