ORDER

BY THE COURT:-

1. The instant Criminal Misc. Petition under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 has been preferred by the petitioner seeking quashment of FIR No.56/2025 registered at Special Police Station, ATS & SOG, Rajasthan, for offences punishable under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B IPC as well as Sections 3 , 6, 7 and 10 of the Rajasthan Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, along with all consequential proceedings arising therefrom.

2. The brief facts giving rise to the present petition, as borne out from the record, are that the Special Operations Group was conducting investigation into allegations pertaining to deployment of dummy candidates and adoption of unfair means in the Forest Guard Recruitment Examination, 2020 conducted by the Rajasthan Subordinate and Ministerial Services Selection Board. During the course of such investigation, it allegedly surfaced that another person had appeared in the written examination in place of the petitioner, thereby facilitating her unlawful selection to the post of Forest Guard.

2.1. On the basis of material collected during preliminary enquiry, FIR No.56/2025 came to be registered against the petitioner on 26.11.2025. The allegations against the petitioner principally rest upon the circumstance that the photograph and signatures uploaded in the online application form did not correspond with the photograph and signatures appearing upon the admit card and examination documents. It further transpired during investigation that earlier FIR No.125/2021 had also been registered against the petitioner for offences under Sections 419, 420, 468 and 120-B IPC in connection with the REET Examination, 2021, wherein allegations had been levelled that another candidate namely Ananya Choudhary alias Jhummee was intended to appear in place of the petitioner by affixing her photograph upon the admit card. It is further borne out from the record that during investigation, the service record and police verification documents of the petitioner were scrutinized and it was allegedly found that the petitioner had concealed information regarding the earlier criminal case while securing appointment on the post of Forest Guard. The petitioner was summoned by the Investigating Agency and upon joining investigation, she asserted that the alleged dummy candidate was intended to appear on behalf of her sister and not for herself. She further contended that in the online application form she was only required to disclose prior conviction and since she had never been convicted by any competent court of law, she furnished the response in the negative.

2.2. The report submitted by the Additional Superintendent of Police, SOG, further reveals that the petitioner had uploaded her own photograph and signatures while submitting the online application form for the Forest Guard Recruitment Examination, 2020, however, at the time of written examination conducted on 13.11.2022 at B.N. P.G. Girls College, Kankroli, Rajsamand, a dummy candidate was allegedly made to appear in her place. The investigation further indicates that the attendance sheet and OMR records procured from the Rajasthan Staff Selection Board prima facie substantiate the allegation that impersonation was resorted to during the examination process.

2.3. It has also been alleged that pursuant to such unlawful means, the petitioner ultimately secured selection to the post of Forest Guard and is presently serving under the office of Deputy Conservator of Forests, Sirohi. The investigation attributes to the petitioner and the dummy candidate a concerted criminal conspiracy aimed at i