Former IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, who has been accused of cheating and wrongly securing OBC and disability quota benefits, on Thursday approached the Delhi High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the criminal case against her.

Her plea for pre-arrest bail is scheduled for hearing before Justice Subramonium Prasad on Friday.

Puja Khedkar allegedly misrepresented information in her application for the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2022 to get reservation benefits.

On July 31, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) cancelled Puja Khedkar’s candidature and debarred her from future exams.

On August 1, a sessions court here had denied anticipatory bail to her and said there are serious allegations against her which “require a thorough investigation”.

Puja Khedkar, who has not been arrested in the case, had approached the sessions court, saying she faces “immediate threat of arrest”.

“Custodial interrogation of the accused is required to unearth the whole conspiracy and to establish involvement of the other persons involved in conspiracy,” the sessions court had said, adding that the case is “only the tip of the iceberg”.

The judge had directed the Delhi Police to conduct its investigation “in all fairness” to find out candidates recommended in the recent past who might have illegally availed of such benefits, and whether some insider from the UPSC also helped Puja Khedkar.

In response to Puja Khedkar’s claim of having been falsely implicated in the case and being a victim of media trial and witch-hunt, the sessions court had said the argument was not tenable because there were sufficient incriminating material on record.

“The conspiracy has been hatched in a pre-planned manner. The conspiracy was executed by the accused in many years. The accused alone could not have executed the conspiracy without the assistance of some outsider or insider,” it had said.

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