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

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has opposed Puja Khedkar’s anticipatory bail plea, saying her custodial interrogation was required to “unearth” the truth about people who enabled her to fraudulently avail additional civil services examination attempts by faking her identity and to collect “sufficient evidence” to establish that.

In an affidavit filed ahead of the hearing in the Delhi high court on the plea on Wednesday, UPSC said the gravity of the fraud was unprecedented. It added it was not only committed against the commission, whose traditions are untrammelled and unparalleled, but also against the public at large, including the citizens of the country who have faith in the commission’s credibility.

On August 12, the high court granted Khedkar interim protection from arrest until August 21 days after the UPSC on July 31 cancelled her provisional candidature as a probationary Indian Administrative Service officer and debarred her from all future examinations or selections.

In its 16-page affidavit, the UPSC said Khedkar undertook a “high level” of complexity and design to cheat, mislead, misrepresent, and play foul with not only the commission but other authorities to commit fraud and gain undue advantage through unfair means and mechanisms and commit serious offences affecting the public at large.

It added that the calculative way Khedkar committed offences by enacting co-incidents established that the investigation was not feasible based on the documents. The UPSC said the probe needed the aid and assistance of more people, who can be identified based on effective custodial interrogation.

“Such a grave act of misusing and abusing the administrative process in a systemic manner by making incorrect & false statements, regarding her number of attempts and suppressing material information which she was duty bound to disclose, could not have been achieved without the assistance & helping hand of several other individuals, all of which requires to be unearthed by custodial interrogation,” the affidavit said.

The UPSC called it pertinent that interrogation takes place to determine the true extent of the fraud and to unearth its magnitude. “...factors looked at as a whole and contextually clearly indicate that the conspiracy has been hatched and executed with the aid, assistance, and involvement of many more persons who can be identified on the basis of effective custodial interrogation only.”

Khedkar moved the high court against a Delhi court’s order refusing her anticipatory bail on August 1. The Delhi court noted that her custodial interrogation was required to unearth the whole conspiracy. It added she had not only cheated and defrauded the UPSC but also snatched the lawful rights of eligible aspirants with benchmark disabilities. The court observed that Khedkar hatched a conspiracy in a pre-planned manner over many years and that she alone could not have executed the conspiracy without the assistance of some outsider or insider. It noted that Khedkar’s case may just be the “tip of the iceberg” while directing the UPSC to strengthen its standard operating procedure to ensure that such an event does not occur.

Khedkar allegedly faked her identity to get more attempts in the examination. She has been charged with the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 120B (criminal conspiracy), and under the Information Technology Act, and Rights of Persons with Disability Act.

Khedkar had exhausted all the permissible attempts available for Persons With Benchmark Disability and Other Backward Class candidates (nine attempts) by 2020. She was not eligible to appear for the exam in 2021. Khedkar allegedly changed her name in 2021 and appeared in 2021, 2022, and 2023 by making “incorrect or false statements regarding the number of attempts already availed”.

On July 31, the UPSC cancelled her candidature after Khedkar failed to respond to the UPSC’s notice. UPSC cited an examination of records and said she was found guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions. Khedkar made it difficult to detect the number of attempts she made by allegedly changing her parents’ names.

On August 12, the high court asked the Delhi police and UPSC to file their response as to why her custody was required to unearth the conspiracy. A bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad said the case against Khedkar primarily seems to be a false representation given in the application form. It questioned the need for custody to unearth the conspiracy. “The question is, where has she taken the aid of others? She is not in the system. To tamper with the system she has to be in the system. The crime has been committed alone, but can that be a reason to not grant bail?” Justice Prasad told the public prosecutor Naresh Kaushik, who represented the Delhi Police and UPSC.

The high court said the trial court’s order refusing Khedkar holds that the offence has been committed but there is hardly any discussion as to why the bail she sought has not been given. It added it does not seem as of now that immediate custody is required.

In its affidavit, the UPSC cited Khedkar’s “advantageous position” and she either tampered with medical reports or obtained them through unfair means. “At this stage, it is not far-fetched and unimaginable in the facts and circumstances of the instant case to have a prima facie view that even the medical reports to claim the benefit of disability are tampered with or obtained through unfair means. Such aspects, inter alia, need and require thorough investigation by the investigating authorities without any impediment and order protecting the accused that has left no stone unturned to abuse the process of law.”

It said bail would not only impede the investigation to unearth the true extent of the crime/fraud committed but also embolden the spirit of individuals with criminal intent to play foul and abuse the law.