HC seeks report on probe into Salman Khurshid's NGO

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Wednesday sought a report from the Economic Offences Wing of the Uttar Pradesh police on the investigation into alleged irregularities in the Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust run by Union minister Salman Khurshid and his wife Louise.

The order was passed by a bench of Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Satish Chandra on a PIL seeking a direction for lodging of an FIR and also monitoring by the court in the case of the trust run by Khurshid and his wife.

The petitioner Nutan Thakur had in her PIL prayed to the court to direct the principal secretary, home, of the Uttar Pradesh government and the Economic Offences Wing to immediately lodge an FIR on the basis of a primary investigation report conducted
by the 'viklang kalyan' department and social welfare department in pursuance of the ministry of social justice.

The EOW of the UP police had already started a probe into the matter following the government order on July 3 last year.

Six parties -- including the state government's EOW, central government, principal secretary of social welfare, Aaj Tak television news channel and Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust -- were named as respondents in the PIL.

The bench had on October 15 issued a notice to Aaj Tak directing it to produce all documents related to the matter of Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust.

The channel on Wednesday filed sealed documents before the bench.

The bench later directed the EOW probing the case to submit details of the investigation including a case dairy on the next date of hearing on February 1.