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Controversial former IAS probationer Puja Khedkar has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court's order, which refused to grant her anticipatory bail in the UPSC cheating case.
Khedkar, who is accused of cheating, fraud, and wrongly availing OBC and disability quota benefits, has moved the SC seeking anticipatory bail.
Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma are likely to hear the plea tomorrow (January 15).
On December 23, 2024, the Delhi High Court dismissed Khedkar's anticipatory bail plea, stating that an investigation was required to unearth the ‘larger conspiracy’ to manipulate the system and that a pre-arrest bail would adversely impact it.
The court also vacated the interim protection from arrest.
During the hearing, Khedkar's counsel argued she was willing to join and cooperate in the investigation, and as all the material was documentary in nature, her custody was not required.
The Delhi police counsel, however, claimed that Khedkar's custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the involvement of others in the commission of the offence.
She has refuted all the allegations against her.
Puja Khedkar, a 2003-batch IAS officer, is accused of misrepresenting information in her application for the UPSC civil services examination, 2022, to get reservation benefits.
— Puja Khedkar is accused of availing facilities to which trainee officers are not entitled while being posted as an assistant collector in Pune.
— She is accused of unauthorised use of a red-blue beacon with Maharashtra government written on her private Audi car, which was registered under the name of a private company.
— She is accused of using fraudulent means to clear exams.
— She is also accused of misrepresenting herself under the physical disabilities and other backward class (OBC) categories.
The UPSC earlier initiated a series of actions against Khedkar in July, including lodging a criminal case for availing attempts in the civil services exam allegedly by faking her identity.
The Delhi Police registered an FIR under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology Act and Right of Persons with Disabilities Act.
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