The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted protection from arrest to former Indian Administrative Service probationer Puja Khedkar, who is accused of having fraudulently cleared the Union Public Service Commission examination, reported the Hindustan Times.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and SC Sharma issued notice on Khedkar’s anticipatory bail plea and scheduled the matter for February 14. It also sought responses from Delhi Police and Union Public Service Commission examination, which cancelled her candidature in July 2024.

Advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing Khedkar, told the bench that she apprehended arrest after the Delhi High Court denied her pre-arrest bail in December and made critical remarks against her. The lawyer also said that Khedkar, a single woman, is now faced with a career setback on account of having lost her job.

“You are responsible for all this.” the bench responded, according to the Hindustan Times. “She has not been arrested for more than 7 months. What is the apprehension that you have?”

Luthra then told the bench that the Delhi High Court had granted Khedkar protection from arrest in August, but after her anticipatory bail petition was rejected in December, she now fears arrest.

On December 23, the Delhi High Court denied her anticipatory bail, observing that said that a preliminary case had been made out about Khedkar having allegedly duped the commission by availing quota benefits meant for the Other Backward Classes and persons with disabilities although she was not eligible for them.

The bench had also noted that Khedkar’s financial and social background indicates that her family may have possibly colluded with her. Therefore, her custodial interrogation would be necessary to unearth the fraud, the court ruled.

The High Court then vacated the protection from arrest that it had granted in August.

The Union government had discharged Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service on September 6.

The controversy around Khedkar’s selection selection erupted after Pune-based Right to Information activist Vijay Kumbhar alleged that she had become a civil services officer by availing benefits under the Other Backward Classes quota, although she was ineligible for it.

The Delhi Police, in its first information report against the former trainee IAS officer, said that she had committed fraud against the Union Public Service Commission and the public at large.