The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Wednesday (August 21, 2024) opposed an anticipatory bail plea by former IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, accused of cheating and wrongly availing OBC and disability quota benefits, before the Delhi High Court saying she committed a fraud against the commission and the public.
Earlier, the court had granted interim protection from arrest to Ms. Khedkar, who has been accused of fraudulently clearing UPSC exam, till August 21.
Read Editorial:A case of excesses: On the Puja Khedkar case
On Wednesday, the court extended the interim protection from arrest granted to Ms. Khedkar till August 29, the next date of hearing.
The Delhi police also sought dismissal of the pre-arrest bail plea on the ground that any relief to her would hinder its probe into the “deep-rooted conspiracy” and that the case has wider implications on public trust as well as the integrity of the civil services examination.
Custodial interrogation
In its reply filed in court, the UPSC said Ms. Khedkar’s custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the magnitude of the “fraud” that could not have been done without the help of other individuals. Therefore, her pre-arrest bail plea should be dismissed, it said.
“The gravity of the fraud committed is unprecedented in nature having been committed against not only a constitutional body — the complainant — whose traditions are untrammelled and unparalleled but also against the public at large, including the citizens of this country who have utmost faith upon the credibility of the UPSC as well as persons who could not be appointed despite being duly eligible and qualified due to illegal means employed by the applicant to seek appointment,” the reply said.
The court told Ms. Khedkar to respond to the stand of the UPSC as well as the Delhi police.
The Delhi police, in their status report, asserted that investigation had revealed that she was not entitled to benefits as an “OBC+Non-Creamy Layer” candidate but she hatched a conspiracy with other persons to get that benefit by showing that her parents were divorced.
The circumstances, however, suggest that Ms. Khedkar’s parents were living together, and that she made a false declaration with respect to her previous number of attempts while writing the Civil Services Examination (CSE)-2021 under a changed name, the agency said.
“She had already exhausted all the permissible attempts available to a PwBD (Persons with Benchmark Disabilities)+OBC candidate, i.e. 9 attempts by CSE-2020 itself. Therefore, as per CSE Rules, she was not eligible to appear further for CSE-2021 and subsequent CSEs,” the police said in the status report.
“Despite exhausting all the permissible attempts, she appeared in CSE-2021, CSE-2022 and CSP-2023 by intentionally changing her name and making incorrect or false statements regarding the number of attempts already availed and suppressing material information which she was duty-bound to furnish true and correct,” the report stated.
The police report said while Ms. Khedkar claimed no connection with her father and showed her mother’s income as being below the threshold to get the benefit of “OBC+Non-Creamy Layer” candidate, her family owns 12 vehicles, including a Mercedes car, BMW car and a Thar SUV.
It stated the family owns “23 pieces of immovable properties valued crores of rupees” in different locations in Maharashtra.
On July 31, the UPSC cancelled Ms. Khedkar’s candidature.
