Delhi High Court protects trainee IAS Puja Khedkar from arrest until August 21

The Delhi High Court has granted protection from arrest to former trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar until August 21 in a fake identity case. 

The court directed the Delhi Police not to take her into custody until the next hearing. Khedkar is accused of falsifying facts in her UPSC application. 

Justice Subramonium Prasad issued the order while hearing Khedkar's plea for anticipatory bail. 

Khedkar, a 2023-batch IAS officer, allegedly faked her identity to exceed the permissible attempt limit for the exam. 

The UPSC had filed a police case against her, leading to the cancellation of her candidature on July 31. 

A Delhi court had earlier refused her anticipatory bail, citing the need for custodial interrogation. 

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The Delhi Police have been investigating, and collecting evidence, and are expected to send a notice to Khedkar. Her legal team argued that she should be allowed to respond to the allegations.

Earlier, the UPSC acted decisively by cancelling Khedkar's provisional candidature and permanently barring her from participating in any future UPSC examinations. This decision followed a thorough review of examination records which revealed Khedkar's manipulation of identity and attempt limits, contrary to the CSE-2022 Rules.

The UPSC's statement clarified that out of over 15,000 candidates reviewed from 2009 to 2023, Khedkar was the only individual found to have exceeded the permitted number of attempts. Her case exposed gaps in the UPSC's Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which failed to detect her altered identity, prompting the Commission to enhance its procedures to prevent similar cases in the future.

Khedkar, who previously secured an all-India rank of 821, was relieved from her District Training Programme in Maharashtra two weeks prior to these developments. The FIR against her was filed following the UPSC’s complaint to the Delhi Police.