New Delhi, March 18: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended till April 15 its earlier order directing that no coercive action be taken against sacked Maharashtra cadre probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who allegedly submitted false OBC and PwBD (Persons with Benchmark Disabilities) certificates and fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limits provided for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) by faking her identity.

In a brief hearing, a Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and S.C. Sharma questioned Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S.V. Raju, who appeared on behalf of the Delhi Police, over the slow pace of investigation in the matter.

ASG Raju, in response, submitted that Puja Khedkar’s custodial interrogation was necessary to probe the "larger scam" and find out the names of the middlemen involved.

“We want to investigate whether this (Puja Khedkar’s) is an isolated case or there is a larger number of cases," he said.

To this, the apex court remarked that the Delhi Police could widen the scope of the investigation but questioned the need for Puja Khedkar’s custodial interrogation. “You must track up this investigation steadfastly," the SC told the Delhi Police as it posted the matter for the next hearing on April 15.

In the previous hearing, Justice Nagarathna-led Bench directed Puja Khedkar to continue her cooperation in the ongoing investigation.

Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing on Puja Khedkar’s behalf, submitted that she is “willing and available” to attend the probe launched by the Delhi Police.

On January 15, the apex court asked the Delhi Police and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to file its reply to Puja Khedkar’s anticipatory bail plea as it passed an ad interim protection from arrest in her favour.

Previously, the Delhi High Court had dismissed Khedkar’s pre-arrest bail petition and vacated its earlier order shielding her from arrest.

In its judgment delivered on December 15, 2024, a Bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh opined that prima facie, a strong case was made out against Khedkar, adding that custodial interrogation of a person accused of an offence of such nature is required to unearth the facts.

Justice Singh-led Bench, on November 28, 2024, reserved its decision on her anticipatory bail plea after hearing both sides. It was then clarified that till the judgment is delivered, the interim relief granted earlier on August 12 shielding Khedkar from arrest will continue.

Before this, a trial court here had turned down her anticipatory bail plea and asked the investigating agency to find out if anyone from inside the UPSC had helped Khedkar.

Widening the scope of the probe, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala had asked Delhi Police to investigate if other people recommended by the UPSC have availed quota benefits without entitlement.

The Centre, on September 7, 2024, sacked Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with immediate effect, a month after the UPSC cancelled her selection in government service.

Khedkar has been found guilty of faking and wrongly availing OBC and disability quota benefits. After cancelling her selection, the UPSC also barred her for life from taking the entrance exam after finding her guilty of faking her identity to take the exam multiple times.

In a status report submitted to the Delhi High Court, the city police had contended that former Maharashtra cadre probationary IAS officer Khedkar had submitted two separate disability certificates for her UPSC exam. The disability certificates dated 2018 and 2021 citing ‘multiple disabilities’ were purportedly issued by the Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital for her UPSC attempts made in 2022 and 2023. However, as per Delhi Police’s status report, the hospital authorities had denied that the certificates claiming ‘multiple disabilities’ were issued to her by them.

It was found that Khedkar availed relaxed criteria for OBC candidates and persons with disabilities. It then came to light that her father, a former Maharashtra government officer, had property to the tune of Rs 40 crore and that she did not qualify for the non-creamy layer OBC quota.

The UPSC had said that its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) "could not detect her number of attempts primarily because she changed not only her name but also her parents’ names".

--IANS

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