Delhi court denies pre-arrest bail to ex-IAS trainee Puja Khedkar in UPSC identity fraud case

New Delhi, India

A Delhi court rejected the request for anticipatory bail from Puja Khedkar, a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) trainee, on Thursday (August 1). The Union Public Service Commission has already cancelled her candidature and also barred her from taking any future exams.

The ex-trainee was accused of lying about her disabilities and falsifying her identity. This included altering her parents' names and forging a certificate to claim 'non-creamy layer' OBC status to clear the Civil Services entrance exam.

"Police are directed to find out if candidates recommended in recent past availed benefits beyond permissible age limit under OBC (Other Backward Classes) quota and PwD (Persons with benchmark Disabilities) benefits... despite not being entitled to it," Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala said.

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Khedkar has not been arrested yet but is facing charges of cheating and forgery. She moved the court for pre-arrest bail in a case where she was accused of faking her identity to gain extra attempts at the UPSC examination.

UPSC cancels Puja Khedkar's candidature

UPSC cancelled Khedkar's candidature on Wednesday (July 31), saying, "UPSC has examined the available records carefully and found her guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the CSE-2022 Rules. Her provisional candidature for the CSE-2022 has been cancelled and she has also been debarred permanently from all the future Examinations/Selections of the UPSC."

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The central body said that Khedkar received a notice for "fraudulently availing attempts, beyond the permissible limit provided for in the examination rules, by faking her identity."

UPSC said that it had checked data from 15,000 candidates between 2009 and 2023 "with respect to number of attempts availed by them" and found no other rule violations.

"In the lone case of Ms Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar, the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the UPSC could not detect her number of attempts primarily because she changed not only her name but also her parents’ name. The UPSC is in the process of further strengthening the SOP to ensure that such a case does not recur in the future,” UPSC added.

(With inputs from agencies)