<p>The Supreme Court has protected former IAS probationer Puja Khedkar from arrest till February 14. She is accused of cheating and wrongly availing of OBC and disability quota benefits in the civil services examination.</p>
<p>A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma also issued notice to the Delhi government and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Khedkar’s plea seeking anticipatory bail.</p>
<p>Khedkar is accused of misrepresenting information in her application for the UPSC civil services examination, in 2022, to get reservation benefits. She refuted all the allegations against her.</p>
<p>Khedkar has denied all allegations against <span class=”skimlinks-unlinked”>her. The</span> <a title=”UPSC” href=”https://news.abplive.com/topic/upsc” data-type=”interlinkingkeywords”>UPSC</a> initiated a series of actions against Khedkar in July, including lodging a criminal case, for availing attempts in the civil services exam by faking her identity. The Delhi Police registered an FIR under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology Act and Right of Persons with Disabilities Act.</p>
<h2>What Did Khedkar Argue?</h2>
<p>During the hearing, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Khedkar, argued the high court made strong observations against her while dismissing her anticipatory bail plea.</p>
<p>The top court said nothing had happened to Khedkar so far and “no had touched her”.</p>
<p>Luthra submitted if the matter went to trial, it would end up in a conviction for there were strong findings by the high court.</p>
<p>When the top court enquired about Khedkar’s current status, Luthra said she had lost her job and was pursuing legal remedies.</p>
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