Amidst the ongoing controversy surrounding Maharashtra cadre trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar’s OBC and disability certificates, social media has become a platform for widespread allegations of misuse of reservations by several bureaucrats across India. Discussions on the X platform have extensively detailed claims that numerous officers from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), and Indian Police Service (IPS) benefited from EWS (Economically Weaker Section) or disability quotas despite purportedly lacking eligibility for such provisions.
One notable case involves Anu Beniwal, an IPS officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, who faced accusations circulating through screenshots of an Instagram post from her account. The post in question featured Anu in police uniform, pointing to a plaque listing IPS officers from the 1989 batch, including one named “Sanjay Baniwal”. Social media posts asserted this was her father and highlighted that she secured admission under the EWS category despite her familial connections to the IPS.
Questions also arose regarding Anu Beniwal’s eligibility for the EWS quota, given her prior service in the DANIPS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Police Service) before transitioning to the IPS.
Originally from Delhi and currently serving in Gwalior district since her selection in the 2022 batch of IPS officers, Anu Beniwal cracked the Civil Services Examination (CSE) in 2021. On July 14, 2024, she posted a photo with her parents on social media, highlighting their encouragement despite their educational limitations.
These revelations prompted scrutiny into the claimed familial connection between Anu Beniwal and “Sanjay Baniwal”. Anu clarified that the individual in question, whom she affectionately referred to as “Tauji” or uncle in her Instagram post, was not her father. She archived the post amidst the controversy, explaining that Sanjay Baniwal is from her village in Pitampura, Delhi, but they are not biologically related. She emphasized that her father’s surname is “Beniwal”, distinct from “Baniwal” used by Sanjay.
Sanjay Baniwal, a retired IPS officer from the 1989 AGMUT cadre, formerly served as Director General (prisons) in Tihar Jail.
Addressing the allegation of utilizing the EWS quota despite her DANIPS background, Anu Beniwal asserted that she applied for the CSE 2021 under EWS before knowing the results of CSE 2020, where she secured DANIPS. This timeline was verified by India Today and other sources, confirming that the announcement of her DANIPS selection in CSE 2020 occurred after the application window for CSE 2021 had closed.
Thus, amidst the swirling controversy, Anu Beniwal has rebutted the allegations and clarified the circumstances surrounding her familial and career backgrounds, aiming to dispel any misconceptions regarding her eligibility under the EWS category.
