Delhi High Court on Thursday (September 25) extended former trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar's interim protection against arrest till October 4. Khedkar, who has now been sacked from the IAS and has been banned from taking UPSC exam in future, faces criminal case with allegations of cheating and misusing OBC and disability quotas
The Delhi Police, with which the FIR against Khedkar has been filed told the court that a "larger conspiracy" had come to light.
But Justice Chandra Dhari Singh deferred hearing on Khedkar anticipatory bail plea following a request from Khedkar's lawyer.
"At request of counsel for the petitioner, list on October 4. Interim order to continue," Justice Singh said.
Khedkar's case came to light earlier this year when Pune District Collector Suhas Diwase made a formal comment to his superiors requesting for Khedkar's transfer away from his office. She was deputed in Pune collectorate as part of her training Prior to becoming IAS officer.
Diwase said in his letter that during her training period, Khedkar was demanding facilities which were not granted to a probationary IAS officer.
What the media initially thought was a disciplinary issue assumed huge proportions very quickly after it came to light that Khedkar had misused non-creamy layer OBC quota as well as disabilities quota.
It was also revealed that Khedkar had taken IAS examination more times than it was permissible under rules and each time, she had used a different combination of her name to give it an appearance of a different student appearing for the exam.
As more and more details about Khedkar family, including her mother threatening farmers with gun became public, there was an uproar.
Khedkar was first sacked by Union Public Service Commission and then the central government. An FIR was filed against her by Delhi Police after which she filed for an anticipatory bail.
