The Patiala House Court will hear the anticipatory bail plea of trainee IAS officer Pooja Khedkar, accused in a fraud and forgery case, on July 31. Additional Sessions Judge Devendra Kumar Jangla was initially set to hear the matter on Tuesday. However, Delhi Police informed the judge that the state government has appointed Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Atul Srivastava to represent the case. Srivastava will present his arguments on Wednesday.
The judge acknowledged the request for adjournment and scheduled the hearing for July 31 at 10 a.m. Advocate Bina Madhavan, representing Khedkar, expressed concern that the delay is causing the IAS officer to lose her opportunity to respond to the show cause notice issued by the UPSC. Senior advocate Naresh Kaushik, representing the complainant UPSC, countered this claim and emphasized that the bail plea will proceed on Wednesday only if the SPP is present.
Khedkar, who began her probationary training at the Pune Collectorate in June, faces allegations of misusing the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Person with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) quotas to pass the Civil Services Examination (CSE). The UPSC has filed an FIR against Khedkar and issued a show cause notice to cancel her selection, also barring her from future examinations.
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