Ex IAS Trainee Officer Puja Khedkar Denied Pre-Arrest Bail In UPSC Cheating Case
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has denied anticipatory bail to former IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar, who made headlines in June and August amid claims she lied about physical and mental disabilities, and changed her name and surname, as well as forging an OBC certificate, to clear the exam. The court said her intensions, prima facie, were to dupe authorities and observed “her steps (were) part of a larger conspiracy. Ms Khedkar, it was also observed, is “unfit for appointment”. The charges against her, which include forgery and cheating, are a “classic example of fraud committed not only an authority but also the nation at large”, the court said Monday afternoon. “Conduct of the petitioner was purely driven with a motive to dupe the complainant UPSC, or the Union Public Service Commission, and all documents allegedly forged by her were done to reap benefits of schemes meant for the (disadvantaged) groups of the society,” the court said. “The investigation in the present case, as per material available on the record, prima facie reveals the …
