HC directs CBI to complete probe in 8 months against Maneka Gandhi

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Feb 1 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to complete the probe in eight months and file a chargesheet, if there was any evidence against former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi in an alleged corruption case.

A division bench headed by Justice T S Thakur disposed of the petition and asked the CBI to complete the probe expeditiously.

The CBI had, earlier, submitted before the High Court that it had registered two FIRs against two NGOs, including one formed by Maneka Gandhi's sister, for alleged misuse of government funds.

The FIR had been lodged against the Gandhi Rural Welfare Trust (GRWT) and the Alp Sankhyak Sikhya Kalyan Samiti for alleged misuse of funds sanctioned to carry out voluntary works in Pilibhit, the constituency of Maneka Gandhi.

In October 2005, the High Court had directed the CBI to probe the alleged allotment of government funds by then Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Maneka Gandhi to various voluntary agencies, including her sister's Gandhi Rural Welfare Trust (GRWT), in 2001.

In a petition, V M Singh, alleged that Maneka Gandhi, who was the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment during the NDA regime, had ''misused her official position to ensure wrongful gains to those close to her, whether it was her Officer on Special Duty (OSD), party workers or her real sister's (Ambika Shukla) trust, which was given Rs 50 lakh.'' ''About 40 trusts in her Parliamentary Constituency Pilibhit were created with her blessings with clear intentions to cheat the exchequer,'' said the petition.

Maneka Gandhi allegedly presided over a meeting on January 11, 2001 and sanctioned Rs 50 lakh for the construction of a Nursing College building at Pilibhit by the Gandhi Rural Welfare Trust of her sister.

The petition alleged that funds, meant for the NGOs which were working for the uplift of the weaker sections of the society, were misused in violation of the rules by those in power. It claimed that ''fake'' NGOs were set up circumventing rules in order to obtain funds.

It is alleged that four NGOs--Gandhi Rural Welfare Trust, Nidhi Education Society, G S Memorial Education Society and New Modern Dayal Shiksha Samiti had also misused the funds given by the Ministry.

UNI

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