NEW DELHI: A Delhi court is likely to pronounce on August 1 its order on the anticipatory bail of IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, accused in a case of cheating and forgery.
During the hearing, Khedkar told the court that she was being targeted for filing a sexual harassment complaint against an officer.
Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala reserved the order after hearing arguments on the application filed by Khedkar, who claimed that she has "imminent threat of arrest".
The prosecution opposed the application, saying that she has "cheated the system".
During the proceedings, Khedkar said she wanted the anticipatory bail "to establish her innocence".
"I (Khedkar) filed a complaint for sexual harassment and that is why all this is being done against me. This is all happening on behest of the collector against whom I have levelled sexual harassment complaint. The person asked me to come and sit in a private room.
I said I am a qualified IAS and I will not do that. I am pressing for anticipatory bail to establish my innocence," advocate Bina Mahadevan, appearing for Khedkar, told the court.
Mahadevan told the court that Khedkar didn't suppress any information, and that she has wrongly mentioned the number of attempt.
"I wrote five but I should have said 12. It is because I availed those attempts under a different quota. Whether it was done in good faith or not is to be inquired," she said.
The advocate further said that Khedkar has been called by multiple authorities.
"IAS Academy Mussoorie has called me (Khedkar), Pune Commissioner has called me. DoPT has given me a notice as well. I need anticipatory bail to defend myself before all these forums," the counsel said.
She added that since this case, media is indulged in witch hunt against Khedkar, but the IAS trainee has not gone to media once, "because I have full faith in the justice system".
The prosecution opposed the bail application, claiming that Khedkar took advantage of the loopholes and changed her name.
"We are at a very nascent stage. We need her custodial interrogation," public prosecutor Atul Srivastava said.
On court's query as to why police was in hurry to arrest her if the probe was at a nascent stage, Srivastava said, "If she gets anticipatory bail, she will not cooperate."
"She changed her father's name and her mother's name. How? The conspiracy to cheat the examination system and public at large is there. She has done immense harm to people who would have otherwise qualified."
"These kinds of persons who cheat the system must be dealt with very seriously. This person has abused the process of law," he submitted, adding that the chances of her abusing the law was still there.
The public prosecutor further said that there were nine attempts under OBC criteria.
"In OBC quota there's concept of creamy layer and non-creamy layer. Her father declared his assets of Rs 53 crore. To overcome that, she claimed that her parents are divorced and she lives with her mother. That is also part of the investigation. We will also investigate the medical documents," he said.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has filed a case against Khedkar for allegedly fraudulently availing the benefits of quota by faking her identity to take the civil services examination beyond the permissible number of attempts.
Senior Advocate Naresh Kaushik, appearing for the UPSC, said, "She secured a public employment unlawfully.
It would not only be an offence against the UPSC but the entire society."
"She has cheated the examination process. If UPSC had the means to prosecute, it would have prosecuted. The offence has been committed with deep intelligence. The investigation is necessary to unearth the methods used by her because other persons can also use similar methods," he said.