In the latest turning point, on Monday, the Delhi High Court ordered interim protection from arrest until August 21 for the former IAS trainee Puja Khedkar. The court restricted Delhi Police from arresting her until the next hearing date as the woman is alleged to have committed perjury and submitted forged documents in her UPSC application.
Justice Subramonium Prasad, who received Khedkar’s application for anticipatory bail, asked why the Delhi Police urgently required custody of her. Recognizing that at this point in time, the court does not seem to me that the custodian of her child is necessary, the judge said that it was Khedkar who appeared to have committed the alleged offenses singlehandedly.
The court has restrained Khedkar from tampering with evidence and joined the UPSC as a respondent in the matter to file a reply to her interim bail application.
Khedkar, a 2023-batch IAS officer, was accused of fraudulently availing attempts by impersonation, including changing her name, her father’s name, her mother’s name, her photograph, her signature, her email ID, her mobile number, and her address.
The UPSC filed a police complaint against Khedkar and then, on the same day, announced the cancellation of her candidature in all future exams conducted by the commission.
Earlier, a Delhi court rejected the anticipatory bail application of Khedkar stated that he was required to be taken for custodial interrogation to unravel the entire génisis of the conspiracy and the potential role of other persons. The sessions court had observed that by the act, Khedkar cheated and committed fraud upon UPSC and also denied deserving candidates their due rights and chances.
Delhi Police had started investigations, gathered documents and evidence, and were on the way to issuing a notice to Khedkar to join the investigation process.
The force in Khedkar’s legal representation argued that she deserved a chance to respond to the allegations and that it was the inquiry into the number of attempts she had withheld.
This case has thus raised other issues about the sanity of the UPSC examination and called for more measures to prevent such alleged fraud attempts.
