The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Thursday fixed October 30 as the date for hearing a public interest litigation seeking criminal action against Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid and his wife Louis Khurshid for alleged financial irregularities committed by them in a private trust run by them in the name of Salman's maternal grandfather Dr Zakir Hussain., former President of India.
The court also directed Hindi television channel
Aaj Tak that had carried out the expose related to the alleged irregularities to submit all documents related to the matter.
The PIL moved by local activist Nutan
Thakur had sought the court's intervention for registering a criminal case through a FIR against the high profile managers of the trust, meant to serve the cause of disabled children. The petitioner had also urged the court to monitor the probe being currently carried out into the case by the state's Economic Offences Wing at the behest of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Thakur further sought to draw the court's attention to the preliminary investigation conducted by the state's handicapped welfare department, wherein suspicion was aroused on the various issues including submission of allegedly forged documents before the Union Ministry of Social Justice at whose direction the state had ordered the initial inquiry.