HC cites ‘motive to dupe UPSC’ to deny Khedkar pre-arrest bail

The Delhi high court on Monday refused to grant anticipatory bail to formerprobationary Indian Administrative (IAS) officer Puja Khedkar, observing that her actions in faking her identity to fraudulently avail attempts in the public service examination were driven by the motive to dupe the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) as part of a larger conspiracy to manipulate the system.

Calling the present case a “classic example” of a fraud committed not only against UPSC, which is a constitutional body, but also society at large, a bench of justice Chandra Dhari Singh ruled that necessary interrogation is warranted to reveal all the aspects related to the alleged fraud committed against the nation.

Justice Singh, while refusing pre-arrest bail to Khedkar, noted that she appeared to have forged documents to reap benefits out of the schemes introduced for the disadvantaged group of the society. Also, there was a high possibility that her parents, who held high positions in the Executive, colluded with unknown powerful persons in order to get the requisite certificates produced by her, the court added.

“[It is] prima facie established that the conduct of the petitioner has been truly driven with the motive to dupe the complainant UPSC and all the documents alleged by her were done in order to reap benefits out of the schemes introduced for the disadvantaged group of the society. The investigation in the present case as per the material available on record prima facie reveals that the petitioner is not a fit candidate to avail the benefits meant for the disadvantaged group and she has been availing the same by forging the documents prepared with unknown individuals in the government or outside. Apart from owing luxury cars and various properties, the family of the petitioner i.e. father, mother have held high positions in the executives and therefore there is a high possibility that family members have colluded with unknown powerful persons in order to get the requisite certificates produced by the petitioner,” justice Singh said, while pronouncing the verdict.

“The steps taken by the petitioner were a part of the large conspiracy to manipulate the system and investigation in this regard would be impacted if she is granted anticipatory bail. The present incident is a classic example of a fraud committed not only with the constitutional body but the society at large and necessary interrogation is warranted to reveal all the aspects related to the said fraud committed against the nation,” the judge added.

Khedkar had approached the Delhi high court against a city court order refusing to grant her anticipatory bail. The court, while denying bail to her on August 1, noted that her custodial interrogation was required to unearth the whole conspiracy since she only cheated and defrauded UPSC but also snatched the lawful rights of eligible aspirants with benchmark disabilities.

She has been charged with a commission of an offence punishable under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code; 66D Information Technology Act, and 89 and 91 Rights of Persons with Disability Act, 2016.

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

Khedkar, a trainee officer of the 2023 batch, was accused of faking her identity to get more attempts in the UPSC examination. She was also accused of wrongly availing benefits under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and disability quotas.

Disparities in her candidature came to light after reports emerged that she was misusing her power during her training in Pune. The Centre on July 11 set up a committee to probe the disparities, which submitted its report on July 24. On July 31, UPSC issued a press release cancelling her candidature after Khedkar failed to respond to a show-cause notice issued on July 18. On September 7, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) discharged her from service.