Supreme Court is expanding the protection of arrest for former pupil Puja Khedkar until April 21 | Today news

The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the protection against arrest granted to former IAS investigator Puja Khedkar until April 21. Khedkar faces the allegations of the fraud and abuse of OBC and Disability Quota benefits during the public services investigation process. A bank consisting of Justices eg, BV Nagarathna and Saatha Chandra Sharma noted the arguments made by Khedkar’s lawyer, which stated that a revival of the reply from the government of Delhi, but was not yet officially taken up, reports Pti. Considering this, the court scheduled the next hearing for April 21 and instructed the High Court register to verify the status of the rejoiner submitted by Khedkar. The bank, meanwhile, allowed her advocate’s plea that the protection against arrest granted her on January 15 in the case until the next date of trial. On March 18, the Supreme Court orally told Khedkar that she could not use separate attempts to remove the test as a ‘competent candidate’ and a ‘disabled candidate’. Additional Attorney -General SV Raju, who appeared for the Delhi government, said they needed Khedkar supervisory interrogation to determine what the identity of the middleman involved in the alleged scam to prepare false disability certificates for UPSC aspirants. Advocate Bina Madhavan, who appeared for Khedkar, said they wrote to the investigative agency about her willingness to work on the investigation. On January 15, the Khedkar High Court gave protection against arrest and sought the reaction of the government of Delhi and the UPSC to her plea to seek bail. Her lawyer earlier argued that the Delhi High Court made strong observations against Khedkar while rejecting her anticipating bail square. Khedkar is accused of incorrectly proposing information in her application at 2022 UPSC civil services exam for the use of discussion benefits. She refuted all the allegations against her. While the Supreme Court of her anticipating bail rejected, the Supreme Court found a strong prima facie case against Khedkar, saying that an investigation was needed to discover the ‘greater conspiracy’ to manipulate the system, and its postponement would adversely affect. Puja Khedkar was initially given interim protection against arrest by the Delhi High Court on August 12, 2024, when he issued a notice about her anticipating bail Square. This protection has since been periodically extended. After the revelations, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) undertook a series of actions against her, including the submission of a criminal case because she allegedly misrepresented her identity to use various attempts in the public services examination. In addition, Delhi police registered a fir against Khedkar and charged her with various criminal offenses related to the case. (With input from PTI) first published: 15 Apr 2025, 01:24 pm Ist