Sleuths of the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) have reportedly forwarded a report to the state government recommending legal action against alleged irregularities in Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust run by senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid and his wife louise Khurshid. 

Sources said the report was sent to the state government for further action on Thursday evening by Director General of EOW, Aloke Prasad.

If the state government sanctions prosecution, many government officials who connived with the trust will face legal action and money that the government lost can be also recovered from them.

According to sources, the EOW has prima facie found anomalies to the tune of Rs 1.30 crore in the Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust.

Earlier, the EOW team involved in the probe into the trust had booked its former representative and some others for the alleged fraud.

Pratyush Shukla was booked for forging signatures of two district officers to verify that a camp for the differently-abled was held on May 29, 2010 using funds sanctioned by the United Progressive Alliance II government to the trust.

At the time, louise Khurshid, whose husband Salman Khurshid was then a Union minister, headed the trust.

It may be mentioned that the UPA II government had in 2011 ordered the state government to probe into a report submitted by the trust on a camp. The EOW was then handed the probe.

The FIR says the EOW found that the Centre had given the trust a Rs 71.50-lakh grant on March 30, 2010 of which Rs 4 lakh was marked for distribution of equipment to differently-abled through a camp in Farrukhabad.

The ministry had also directed that the money be utilised within three months and a utilisation certificate, verified by district-level officers, be sent to the Central government.

The report says that the trust sent a test check report to the Central government on June 3, 2010 mentioning 32 beneficiaries at an equipment distribution camp in Kayamganj on May 29, 2010.

This report had the signature of tehsildar of Kayamganj as the one who verified it and countersigned by Farrukhabad chief medical officer.

“No evidence has been found that the camp was organised in Kayamganj, Farrukhabad, on May 29, 2010,” the report says.

It adds that Shukla prepared the forged document with the help of “others”. They have been booked under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code at Kayamganj police station of Farrukhabad on the complaint of inspector Ram Shankar Yadav of the EOW. 

Interestingly, when contacted by some media persons, louise Khurshid had then said, “The FIR has been registered against Mr Shukla. He is no longer with the trust.”

The trust, of which Union law Minister Khurshid was the chairman, is registered at his residence at 4, Gulmohar Avenue, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi. Its chief functionary is ex-MlA louise Khurshid. The trust, registered as a non-governmental organisation (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, the hometown of Khurshid.

But sting operations on senior officials of the state and the Union government by a news channel revealed large-scale irregularities after which a probe was ordered.