BRIG HEMANT MAHAJAN NATIONAL SECURITY

Minister and wife ran Trust for the disabled... and forged officials' signatures to get grants the beneficiaries never received

By DEEPAK SHARMA, ARUN SINGH and HARISH SHARMA

PUBLISHED: 21:45 GMT, 10 October 2012 | UPDATED: 22:35 GMT, 10 October 2012

• A Trust run by Salman Khurshid and his wife Louise allegedly forged signatures and faked stamps of senior officials of Uttar Pradesh to receive grants from the Union government for welfare of the disabled. 

But it neither disbursed the aids meant for the handicapped nor has explained how it utilised those funds. Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust's 'welfare activities' have been contested by at least 10 districts of the state and Aaj Tak has documents to prove it.

The Trust, of which Union law minister Khurshid is the chairman, is registered at his residence at 4, Gulmohar Avenue, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi.

Salman Khurshid and Louise Khurshid

Its chief functionary is ex-MLA Louise Khurshid. Aaj Tak discovered that camps for the disabled existed only on paper.

Its investigation team contacted people from the Trust's list of beneficiaries - only to be told that they never received the 'aid for the handicapped' that was promised. 

Field verification reports, on the basis of which grants are released, were found to have forged signatures and seals.

 

The Trust, registered as an NGO, operates in states such as Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Haryana as well, and has been receiving substantial grants from several important ministries of the Union government.

In UP, it claims to be engaged in providing 'aids' to physically-handicapped persons in 17 districts, including Etah, Shahjahanpur, Bulandshahr and Farrukhabad, Khurshid's hometown. 

But in sting operations on senior officials of the state and the Union government, Aaj Tak discovered a host of irregularities. 

Documents in its possession also revealed that the UP government had on January 12, 2012, ordered a state-wide probe into the malpractices in a project piloted by the Trust.

 

R.R Puri, undersecretary in social justice and empowerment ministry on spy camera

The inquiry was initiated following a letter from the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment. 

The Aaj Tak team stung the undersecretary in the ministry, R.P. Puri. Speaking on spy cam, Puri revealed that files relating to the Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust were pending with Union minister Mukul Wasnik as the matter related to a politically influential person like Khurshid. Puri said on camera: 'You are right, that had it been a common NGO, it would have been blacklisted long ago.'

Other state and Union government officials also stated on camera that malpractices had been committed by the Trust and a case should have been registered. 

The social justice and empowerment ministry had released a grant of Rs 71.5 lakh in 2010-11 and Rs 68 lakh in 2011-12 to the Trust. 

But alarmed by the allegations of forgery and false reporting, it has stopped fresh grants.

It also sought an explanation from Khurshid's family but is still waiting. Louise dismissed the charge of forgery mentioned in the UP government's probe report.

She also sent across an affidavit of J.B. Singh, former chief development officer of Mainpuri and currently registrar in Lucknow University.

In the purported affidavit, Singh states that he inaugurated two camps organised by Khurshid's Trust in Mainpuri, and that the signatures on the checklist of the work done by the Trust are his. 

But when Aaj Tak's team reached Singh, he denied on camera that he had given any affidavit to the Trust. Louise has refused to come on camera to deny the charges. 

She said she has requested UP CM Akhilesh Yadav to investigate why officials of 10 districts claimed the Trust submitted reports with their forged signatures. Akhilesh has said the guilty will be punished.