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Maharashtra

SC shields ex-IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar from arrest

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New Delhi, Jan 15: In an interim order passed on Wednesday, the Supreme Court directed that no coercive action be taken against sacked Maharashtra cadre probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who allegedly submitted false OBC and PwBD (Persons with Benchmark Disabilities) certificates and fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limits provided for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) by faking her identity.

Issuing notice on Puja Khedkar’s anticipatory bail plea, a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and S.C. Sharma asked the Delhi Police and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to file its reply in the matter by February 14.

In the meantime, Justice Nagarathna-led Bench granted protection to Puja Khedkar from arrest.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court had dismissed Khedkar’s pre-arrest bail petition and vacated its earlier order shielding her from arrest.

In its judgment delivered on December 15, 2024, a bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh opined that prima facie, a strong case was made out against Khedkar, adding that custodial interrogation of a person accused of an offence of such nature is required to unearth the facts.

Justice Singh-led Bench, on November 28, 2024, reserved its decision on her anticipatory bail plea after hearing both sides. It was then clarified that till the judgment is delivered, the interim relief granted earlier on August 12 shielding Khedkar from arrest will continue.

Before this, a court here had turned down her anticipatory bail plea and asked the investigating agency to find out if anyone from inside the UPSC had helped Khedkar. Widening the scope of the probe, Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala had asked Delhi Police to investigate if other people recommended by the UPSC have availed quota benefits without entitlement.

The Centre, on September 7, 2024, sacked Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with immediate effect, a month after the UPSC cancelled her selection in government service.

Khedkar has been found guilty of faking and wrongly availing OBC and disability quota benefits. After cancelling her selection, the UPSC also barred her for life from taking the entrance exam after finding her guilty of faking her identity to take the exam multiple times.

In a status report submitted to the Delhi High Court, the city Police had contended that former Maharashtra cadre probationary IAS officer Khedkar had submitted two separate disability certificates for her UPSC exam. The disability certificates dated 2018 and 2021 citing ‘multiple disabilities’ were purportedly issued by the Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital for her UPSC attempts made in 2022 and 2023. However, as per Delhi Police’s status report, the hospital authorities had denied that the certificates claiming ‘multiple disabilities’ were issued to her by them.

It was found that Khedkar availed relaxed criteria for OBC candidates and persons with disabilities.

It then came to light that her father, a former Maharashtra government officer, had property to the tune of Rs 40 crore and that she did not qualify for the non-creamy layer OBC quota.

he UPSC had said that its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) “could not detect her number of attempts primarily because she changed not only her name but also her parents’ names”.

Maharashtra

Maharashtra drug racket exposed from MP police station, 4 arrested

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Mumbai: Police Crime Branch has claimed to have busted a drug smuggling gang in Maharashtra from Madhya Pradesh MC and arrested four accused involved in it from MP. All four are accused of running a drug racket in Maharashtra. On November 3, Imran alias Babu Khan (38), Waqas Abdul Rab Khan (30), Taqdeen Rafiq Khan (30), Kamlesh Ajay Chavan (23) from Nowpara were reported to have supplied drugs from Madhya Pradesh and sold them in Maharashtra. After this, the police arrested all four and seized more than one kg of MD, which is said to be worth more than Rs 2 crore, from their possession. This was informed by the DCP Crime Branch Amar Singh Jadhav here. He said that a big drug racket has been busted and there is a possibility of more arrests.

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Maharashtra

Two youths drown in Mumbai’s Mahim creek

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Mumbai: Two people jumped into the Mahim creek in Mumbai, due to which they drowned. The search for them is on. Today at around 12:20 pm, Irshad Asif Sheikh, a transgender, aged 22, residing at Lal Mati, Nargis Dutt Nagar, Bandra (West), Mumbai, and Qalander Altaf Khan, aged 20, residing at Lal Mati, Nargis Dutt Nagar, Bandra (West), were standing between a bridge in Bandra. During this, they had an argument and one jumped into the creek while the other also jumped into the water to save him.

During the argument, Irshad jumped into the water and Qalander Khan jumped after him to save him. However, both drowned in the water.

The search operation is on, so far no trace of both has been found. Teams are searching for both.

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Maharashtra

Sameer Wankhede targeted in The Baddest of Bollywood; Delhi High Court orders removal of objectionable content from controversial series in defamation case

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Mumbai: The Mumbai-Delhi High Court has strongly criticized Red Chillies Entertainment Shah Rukh Khan, Gauri Khan and others in the defamation case against NCB Zonal Director IRS officer Sameer Wankhede and said that artistic freedom does not mean mocking a person. After this, the High Court has ordered that the controversial footage related to Sameer Wankhede be removed from the controversial Netflix series The Bads of Bollywood. Sameer Wankhede had filed a petition in the High Court and pleaded that his character has been killed in The Bads of Bollywood and this series has been made to target him. The purpose is to humiliate and mock Sameer Wankhede. After watching some parts of this series, the High Court has ordered the removal of the controversial parts from the film.

Sameer Wankhede’s lawyer had told the court that the character portrayed in the film is a comparison to Sameer Wankhede and that this series has been created with the intention of tarnishing Wankhede’s image. The Bads of Bollywood is malicious, therefore, the above-mentioned controversial scenes and objectionable dialogues should be deleted from the series, on which the court has issued an order to delete the controversial and objectionable content and content. Earlier, while hearing Sameer Wankhede’s petition, the court had sent notices to Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies, Netflix, Meta, and social media platforms and directed them to file a response. To this, Red Chillies had called the film and series a drama and made it clear that it had nothing to do with the facts. However, despite this, the Delhi High Court inquired whether a film drama does not mean that someone’s character is killed and said this, it reprimanded Shah Rukh Khan and the film company. Sameer Wankhede tried to prove through his argument that the character portrayed in the film resembles Sameer Wankhede and that this character has been portrayed in a negative way to target him and in this, an attempt has been made to make fun of Sameer Wankhede through this character, which has humiliated Wankhede, which the court has accepted and issued a directive to delete the objectionable and controversial content. This is a big success for Sameer Wankhede, while Shah Rukh Khan has suffered a huge setback.

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