Kumar Bahukhandi
Pooja Khedkar – Photo: ANI
The Delhi High Court on Monday December 23 , 2024 gave its verdict on the anticipatory bail plea of former IAS officer Pooja Khedkar. The court has rejected the anticipatory bail plea.
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court on Monday December 23, 2024 dealt a major blow to former IAS probationer Pooja Khedkar. During the hearing, the court refused to grant anticipatory bail to Pooja. The former IAS probationer has been booked for alleged cheating in the civil services examination and wrongfully taking advantage of the OBC-disability quota.
Criminal charges have been leveled against Pooja Khedkar by the Delhi Police. The police have accused her of cheating in the civil services examination and illegally claiming OBC and disability quota benefits.
A bench of Justice Chander Dhari Singh reserved its order on November 27, 2024. Meanwhile, the court has extended the interim protection granted to Khedkar till a final decision is taken. Khedkar, through advocate Bina Madhavan, said that she is ready to cooperate in the investigation and submitted that custodial interrogation is not necessary.
However, the Delhi Police, through Special Public Prosecutor Advocate Sanjiv Bhandari, informed the court that the investigation was ongoing, and custodial interrogation may be required to unravel the larger conspiracy, adding that certain aspects of the conspiracy still needed to be investigated.
Investigation on IAS during training
Puja obtained MBBS degree from Shrimati Kashibai Navale Medical College, Pune. Later in 2021, she passed the UPSC CSE exam with 841st rank. After training, she got her first appointment in Pune Collector Office in June 2024 this year. However, during the training in the very first appointment, an investigation was started on her and in the meantime she was transferred.
In fact, Pooja is accused of starting unreasonable demands even before joining the office. Many officers of the Collectorate have given a written complaint to the Collector in this regard. After which Pune DM Suhas Divas complained about her to the Chief Secretary.
Allegations against Pooja
Pooja is also accused of tampering with documents at the time of admission in MBBS college.
Pooja Khedkar is accused of demanding government accommodation, staff, car and separate cabin in the office during the training period.
Put red-blue light and Maharashtra government logo on her personal Audi car.
She pressurized a DCP rank officer to release a transporter arrested on charges of theft.
She used false documents to become an IAS and declared herself as OBC non-creamy layer in the UPSC form.
Pooja is from a rich family. She herself owns property worth about 17 crores.
Pooja had filled the UPSC application form under the disability category. It was claimed that she is 40 percent visually impaired and is suffering from some mental illness. However, she did not appear every time during the medical.
