The court denied anticipatory bail due to prima facie evidence of a conspiracy to defraud the Civil Services Examination system, emphasizing the need for custodial interrogation.

JUDGMENT:

Chandra Dhari Singh, J.

1. The instant application has been filed under Section 482 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (hereinafter as ‘BNSS’) read with Section 528 of the BNSS has been filed seeking the following reliefs:

(i) Direct the release of the Applicant on anticipatory bail in the event of his arrest by the police in F.I.R No. 142 dated 19.07.2024 Under Section 420,464,465,471 of IPC , 66D of the IT Act and 89/91 of the Rights of Person with Disability Act 2016 P.S. Crime Branch; and

(ii) Set-aside the Order dated 01.08.2024 passed by the Ld. Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala House Court in Bail Application No. 1110/2024; and

(iii) Pass any such other orders as maybe deemed fit and proper in the interest of justice."

2. The brief facts that are relevant to the present proceedings are set out as follows:

a) The applicant/petitioner in the present case is a recommended candidate in the Civil Services Examination (hereinafter as ‘CSE’), 2022 and was allocated the Indian Administrative Services (hereinafter as ‘IAS’) and got assigned to the Maharashtra Cadre.

b) The complainant, i.e. the Union Public Service Commission (hereinafter as ‘UPSC’) is a Constitutional body entrusted to conduct various public services examinations for the All India Services including the coveted services such as IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS etc. through a common examination named CSE.

c) The applicant has been preparing for the said examination since the year 2012 by indicating her name as ‘Khedkar Puja DeelipRao’ for the first 9 attempts. During the course of appearing for the said attempts, she posed herself as an OBC (non-creamy layer) candidate, except in CSE-2013 where she claimed herself to be a General Category candidate.

d) In the year 2018, the applicant claimed herself as a candidate belonging to Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (hereinafter as ‘PwBD’) category in the sub-category of Visual Impairment, along with the OBC-non-creamy layer.

e) Pursuant to several complaints received by the UPSC, an FIR bearing no. 142/2024 under Sections 420, 464, 465 , 471 of the Indian Penal Code (hereinafter as ‘ IPC ’) read with Section 66D of the Information Technology Act , 2000 and 89/91 of the Rights of person with Disability Act, 2016 was registered on 19th July, 2024 at PS - Crime Branch, New Delhi.

f) As per the allegations of the UPSC/complainant, despite exhausting all the attempts available to her, the applicant/petitioner appeared in CSE-2021 by circumventing the scrutiny pertaining to excess attempts made by her. The details of such tactics is as under:

Change in name from ‘Khedkar Puja DeelipRao’ to ‘Puja ManoramaDilipKhedkar’.

Wrong details in the Detailed Application form- I (hereinafter as ‘DAF-I’) regarding the number of attempts made by the applicant.

Introduction of disability in the year 2018 and change in the status of disability in the year 2021 by adding multiple disabilities.

g) After lodging of the said FIR, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions (hereinafter as ‘DoPT’) issued a show cause notice bearing no. 14012/02/2024 AIS-III, asking for reasons as to why she should not be discharged from the services under the relevant rules of the IAS Probation Rules, 1954.

h) Thereafter, the UPSC released a press note dated 31st July, 2024, thereby, cancelling the provisional candidature of the applicant from CSE-2022 and permanently debarring her from any future UPSC examinations.

i) Apprehending her arrest in the said FIR, the applicant approached the learned District and Sessions Judge, Patiala House (hereinafter as ‘learned Court below’) seeking anticipatory bail, however, the same was dismissed vide order dated 8th August, 2024.

j) Aggrieved by the same, the applicant has approached this Court seeking anticipatory bail.

3. Ms. Bina Madhavan, learned counsel for the applicant submitted that the applicant was a recommended candidate in the CSE-2022 under the category of PwBD and had attempted the 5th time out of the 9th att