SC extends relief to Ex-IAS Trainee Puja Khedkar in cheating case

The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended till April 21 the protection from arrest granted to former IAS probationer Puja Khedkar accused of cheating and wrongly availing OBC and disability quota benefits in the civil services examination reported news agency PTIA bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma took note of the submissions of Khedkars counsel that her rejoinder to the reply filed the Delhi government has been filed but it has not come on record reported PTIThe bench took note of the submissions and listed the matter for hearing on April 21 and asked the apex court registry to verify whether Khedkars rejoinder is filedThe bench meanwhile allowed the plea of her counsel that the protection from arrest granted her on January 15 in the case be extended till the next date of hearingOn March 18 the top court orally told Khedkar that she cannot avail separate attempts to clear the test as an able candidate and a disabled candidate reported PTIAdditional Solicitor General S V Raju appearing for the Delhi government had said they need custodial interrogation of Khedkar to ascertain the identity of the middlemen involved in the alleged scam of preparing fake disability certificates for UPSC aspirantsAdvocate Bina Madhavan appearing for Khedkar had said they have written to the probe agency about her willingness to cooperate in the investigation reported PTIOn January 15 the top court gave Khedkar protection from arrest and sought the response of the Delhi government and the UPSC on her plea seeking anticipatory bailHer counsel had earlier argued that the Delhi High Court made strong observations against Khedkar while dismissing her anticipatory bail pleaKhedkar is accused of misrepresenting information in her application for the 2022 UPSC civil services examination for availing reservation benefitsShe had refuted all the allegations against herWhile dismissing her anticipatory bail plea the high court found a strong prima facie case against Khedkar and said an investigation was needed to unearth the larger conspiracy to manipulate the system and allowing reprieve would adversely impact it reported PTIKhedkar was granted interim protection from arrest when the high court issued a notice on her anticipatory bail plea on August 12 2024 which was extended from time to time reported PTIThe UPSC initiated a series of actions against Khedkar including lodging of a criminal case for availing attempts in the civil services exam by faking her identity while the Delhi Police lodged an FIR against her for various offencesWith inputs from PTIatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params