SC shields ex-IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar from arrest
Earlier, Delhi High Court had dismissed Khedkar’s pre-arrest bail petition and vacated its earlier order shielding her from arrest

In an interim order passed on Wednesday, the Supreme Court has directed 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.
Issuing notice on Khedkar’s anticipatory bail plea, a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and S.C. Sharma asked the Delhi Police and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to file its reply in the matter by 14 February. In the meantime, the Justice Nagarathna-led bench granted protection to Khedkar from arrest.
Earlier, 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 15 December 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.
The bench had, on 28 November,2024, reserved its decision on her anticipatory bail plea after hearing both sides. It was then clarified that till the judgment was delivered, the interim relief granted earlier on 12 August shielding Khedkar from arrest would continue.
Before this, a Delhi court 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 had availed quota benefits without entitlement.
Also Read: Was Pooja Khedkar the only one?
The Centre, on 7 September 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 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 Khedkar's father, a former Maharashtra government officer, owned property worth Rs 40 crore and that she did not qualify for the non-creamy layer OBC quota. The UPSC had said 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".
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