New Delhi: The Delhi Police’s status report submitted in response to the anticipatory bail application filed by Puja Khedkar before the Delhi High Court has alleged that the suspended Indian Administrative Service (IAS) trainee committed fraud by forging her name to avail more attempts for the Civil Services examination, and giving false information about her parents’ marital status.
Khedkar, in order to seek benefits for the non-creamy layer under Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota, allegedly claimed that her mother’s annual income was less than Rs 8 lakh, even as there are three expensive cars registered in the mother’s name and her family owns 23 immovable properties in Maharashtra.
The Delhi Police Crime Branch submitted in the status report that Khedkar, along with unknown persons, hatched a “well-planned” conspiracy to claim that her parents were separated, but affidavits filed by her mother for the 2017 panchayat election, and father during this year’s Lok Sabha elections, confirmed that they were still married.
The status report was filed before the Delhi High Court Wednesday after the court asked the Delhi Police and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on 12 August to file their response as to why Khedkar’s custody was required to probe the matter. The court has extended her interim protection from arrest till 29 August.
The UPSC, which approached the Delhi Police last month to file a case against the suspended trainee officer, also filed a response to her anticipatory bail plea.
Opposing anticipatory bail to Khedkar, UPSC termed the alleged fraud committed by Khedkar as “unprecedented”, and not only against a constitutional body whose traditions are “untrammelled and unparalleled”, but also against public at large.
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‘Changed name for extra attempts’
ThePrint has accessed a copy of the 12-page status report filed by the Delhi Police, where the investigating officer alleged that Khedkar used the name ‘Khedkar Puja Deeliprao’ for nine attempts of the Civil Services examination between 2012 and 2020, exhausting the attempt limit for a candidate under the OBC non-creamy layer category.
According to the investigator, Khedkar committed fraud on multiple levels.
First, she falsified information about the marital status of her parents and the annual income of her mother, who she claimed was separated and earned Rs 6 lakh per annum, to avail reservation as a non-creamy layer candidate.
Then, after she exhausted all nine attempts under that category, she changed her own and rearranged her parents’ name to reappear in the examination.
The police said in its report that the analysis of the affidavits submitted by her father, Deelip Kondiba Khedkar, before the 2024 general election and her mother before the panchayat election in 2017 confirmed that they were married to each other at the time. However, a divorce decree was prepared in 2010, which Khedkar used to seek reservation.
The investigator further said that even in her form before joining the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in 2022, she had claimed to be residing with her parents, contrary to submissions made in the UPSC form.
She has also been accused of forging her name only to be eligible to appear in the Civil Services examination, while other official documents, such as passport and bank accounts, had her old name “Puja Dilip Khedkar”. Even the passport issued in December 2020 did not have her new name ‘Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar’, which she used on exam applications after 2020.
“That from the facts and circumstances mentioned above, it appears that the petitioner alone could not have managed to make such manipulations at all levels. There is certainly a deep-rooted conspiracy, which is required to be unearthed. It is a matter of investigation to find as to who all and how many persons are involved in such a big fraud, where manipulation of details has been done with a premier institute like UPSC,” the Delhi Police said in its report.
“There are other forms of evidence, such as emails, text messages, physical records not yet submitted to authorities, or even personal records. The petitioner could alter or destroy these if granted protection at the initial stage of investigation. This is especially relevant given the petitioner ‘s alleged history of manipulating information,” the status report read.
Opposing the grant of anticipatory bail to Khedkar, the police said, “The investigation involves ongoing inquiries, such as verifying the authenticity of the disability certificates, or cross-checking the petitioner’s claims with other institutions, like educational or medical institutions. The petitioner’s release could result in her obstructing these processes by providing misleading information or pressuring these institutions to alter records or testimonies.”
“It appears from the investigation conducted till now that there are other individuals involved in the fraud. The petitioner could coordinate with them to create a consistent narrative, cover up their tracks, or manipulate remaining evidence. This would significantly hinder the investigation’s ability to uncover the complete scope of the fraud,” the police argued.
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‘Status of disability changed over time’
The UPSC also explained in detail the alleged falsification of documents Khedkar had allegedly committed since 2012.
ThePrint has seen a copy of the UPSC’s reply, according to which Khedkar could not go past the preliminary level of the Civil Service examination for the first five attempts, and qualified to the next stage for the first time only in 2017.
The UPSC also said that Khedkar claimed to be a candidate from the General category in 2013, contrary to the OBC-non creamy layer status claimed by her in 2012.
In 2017, she had cleared the Prelims, but could not go past the Mains. In 2018, for the first time, she claimed to be a candidate from the category of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) under the sub-category of visual impairment, along with pre-existing claim of belonging to OBC non-creamy layer. That year, UPSC informed the court, Khedkar got through the Prelims and Mains, but could not pass the personal interview round.
The year after that, too, she made it to the personal interview round, but could not get past. After making the ninth attempt in 2020, she renamed herself from ‘Khedkar Puja Deeliprao’ to ‘Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar’.
The UPSC further informed the court that in 2021, in her Detailed Application Form, which every successful Prelims candidate submits, she claimed to have attempted the examination on four occasions. However, in the DAF-1 filled during the 2019 examination, she had claimed to have made eight attempts.
The UPSC said that since she could not qualify the preliminary round in 2020, the discrepancy could not be detected.
According to UPSC’s reply, Khedkar’s alleged disability also underwent a degree of changes over the years. In 2018, she had first sought benefits under PwBD for blindness or low vision, but claimed multiple disabilities, adding mental illness to the existing claim of visual impairment, while applying for the 2021 Civil Services Examination.
“The change in name and indicating the wrong information about the number of attempts (less no. of attempts) in respect of CSE-2021 onwards lead to inescapable conclusion that she had the motive of deliberately misleading and cheating the Commission for unlawful gain at the cost of a genuinely deserving candidate,” the UPSC alleged.
The commission further said that her candidature for the 2021 exam was cancelled as she did not turn up before the medical board constituted by the government.
Khedkar then applied under the same disability criteria next year and the medical board approved her candidature as a candidate with multiple disabilities, such as visual and hearing impairment, despite no record of any positions being available for candidates with disabilities, such as visual impairment and mental illness.
“It is thus evident that in order to unearth the magnitude of the fraud committed by the applicant, including the involvement of the persons and individuals who have assisted her, it is pertinent that interrogation takes place for the purposes of determination of the true extent of the fraud. Therefore, the grant of anticipatory bail to the accused/applicant at this crucial stage of the investigation without granting the time to the investigating agency to interrogate the accused is against the settled principle of law governing the grant of anticipatory bail,” the UPSC argued.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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