Puja Khedkar, a controversial former IAS trainee officer, is believed to have fled to Dubai to evade arrest after her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by a Delhi court on Thursday.
As per reports, Khedkar’s mobile number is switched off and she is not traceable for the last couple of weeks as she has been evading the media after the controversy over her disability and OBC status claims in her Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) candidature started looming.
It is also worth mentioning that after controversies against Khedkar started to take a bad shape, she was asked to report at Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy Of Administration in Mussoorie on July 23 but
she didn’t show up.
However, the speculations of her fleeing to Dubai emerged moments after Delhi’s Patiala House court, on August 1, rejected her anticipatory bail plea saying that the allegations against Khedkar are serious that “require a thorough investigation”.
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Denying the bail to Khedkar, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala said: “Custodial interrogation of the accused is required to unearth the whole conspiracy and to establish involvement of the other persons involved in conspiracy.”
Khedkar’s bail plea was rejected a day after the UPSC cancelled her provisional candidature and permanently debarred her from taking all the exams/selections in the future.
The decision announced on Wednesday (July 31) by the UPSC, that conducts civil services examination, was taken after careful examination of the available records which found Khedkar guilty of acting in contravention of the provisions of the civil services examination (CSE)-2022 Rules.
The UPSC further said that it had thoroughly examined the available data of more than 15,000 finally recommended candidates of the CSEs between 2009 to 2023, that is, for 15 years with respect to the number of attempts availed by them and found that barring Khedkar, no other candidate have availed more number of attempts than permitted under the CSE Rules.
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UPSC cancels Puja Khedkar’s candidature, debars her from all future exams, selections
Khedkar found herself in deep waters in June after Pune Collector Suhas Diwase wrote to Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik, highlighting her demand for perks including car, staff and an office she was not entitled to during her two-year probation.
She was immediately transferred to Washim.
Problems started getting big for Khedkar after her selection for IAS came under the spotlight and it was found that she had availed relaxed criteria for OBC candidates and persons with disabilities.
It was also found that her father, Dilip Khedkar, a former officer in Maharashtra government, had property to the tune of 40 crores and she did not qualify for the OBC non-creamy layer tag.
She has allegedly manipulated her documents to appear for the UPSC examination multiple times.
With inputs from agencies
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