SC extends Puja Khedkar’s protection from arrest in UPSC fraud case till March 17

The Supreme Court on Friday extended the protection from arrest granted to suspended Indian Administrative Service probationer Puja Khedkar till March 17, reported PTI.

Khedkar has been accused of fraudulently clearing the Union Public Service Commission examination.

A bench of Justices B Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma also ordered Khedkar to cooperate with the investigation.

On January 15, the bench granted Khedkar protection from arrest while issuing notice on her anticipatory bail petition. It had also sought responses from the Delhi Police and the Union Public Service Commission, which cancelled her candidature in July.

At the hearing on Friday, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju sought time to file a response.

Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing Khedkar, also told the Supreme Court that the police had not called her for its investigation into the matter and added that she was willing to cooperate, PTI reported.

The Supreme Court then asked Raju to file a response within three weeks.

The controversy around Khedkar’s selection erupted after Pune-based Right to Information activist Vijay Kumbhar alleged that she had become a civil services officer by availing benefits under the Other Backward Classes quota, which she was not eligible for.

The Delhi Police, in its first information report against the former trainee officer, said that she had defrauded the Union Public Service Commission and the public at…

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