Another IAS officer finds herself on the “wrong” side of the law after Puja Khedkar’s IAS selection was cancelled by the UPSC in July.

The CBI has filed a chargesheet against a former deputy commissioner from Arunachal Pradesh and two other accused for allegedly withdrawing government funds and using the same to “purchase immovable properties in the name of her relatives”.

The agency on Monday issued a statement on the chargesheeting of Padma Jaiswal, a 2003 batch AGMUT cadre IAS officer, now posted as a secretary in the Puducherry government.

The chargesheet was filed against three officials, including Jaiswal, who was then the deputy commissioner of West Kameng district along with then finance and accounts officer and the cashier in her office, in a 2021 case “related to corruption/misappropriation of public funds”.

After clearance from the state and central government, the CBI had registered and launched the probe into allegations that the then DC, “abused her official position by corrupt and illegal means, withdrew cash from government account for personal purposes, prepared Demand Drafts and remitted the amount to the accounts of private individuals, payable at SBI, Chandigarh.”

It was also alleged that Jaiswal “on numerous occasions called the cashier and F&AO to her office and asked them to withdraw money in cash on a returnable basis and the said amounts were, allegedly, misappropriated”.

The allegations also included “gross procedural lapses” committed by the then DC “in conspiracy” with the other two accused in getting drafts and deposit at call receipts (DCRs) amounting to ₹28 lakh prepared to get the amount released from treasury in conspiracy with the Cashier and FAO.

“During the investigation, it has been established that the accused, then Dy. Commissioner ... entered (into a) criminal conspiracy with two officials of her office (then F&AO and cashier) and in pursuance thereof dissolved 3 Nos. of DCRs (Deposit at Call Receipts) created out of Govt. funds and got issued 10 DDs amounting to ₹28 lakh which were utilised towards purchase of immovable properties in the name of relatives of said DC,” the statement said.

The Jaiswal case comes in the wake of the recent case of a trainee IAS officer Puja whose selection was cancelled by the UPSC for allegedly violating the disability and Other Backward Class (non-creamy layer) reservation to clear the civil services examination. But before the cancellation which Khedkar has challenged, she was in the news for allegedly abusing her power and privileges as a probationary IAS officer in Maharashtra.