UP govt looking into report of Khurshids' trust

New Delhi, Oct 12: Acting on the request of Law Minister

's wife Louise Khurshid,

government has begun the process of verifying the handicapped welfare examination report of Zakir Hussain Trust run by the couple for 2009-2010 which is embroiled in a controversy.

In a communication to Louise Khurshid on Oct 3, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav told her that he has forwarded her letter in this regard to the Chief Secretary of the state's Handicapped Welfare Department and she will be apprised of the action taken there of.

A Hindi news channel had on Oct 9 alleged that the NGO forged signatures of senior officials in several districts of Uttar Pradesh depriving disabled people of their money.

The issue led to a political controversy and activist Arvind Kejriwal announced joining a march of the disabled persons to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence on Oct 12 protesting against the alleged "money bungling" by the NGO.

A day after the controversy broke out, Khurshid's wife yesterday came out with a strong denial saying the allegation is "devoid of any merit, and is false, malicious and baseless".

In a statement, she said she herself had requested UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sept 17 to conduct an inquiry so that "truth is revealed and it is established that the Trust has not forged the signatures of any officers of the state of UP".

Kejriwal had also demanded the resignation of the Law Minister while the BJP hit out at Khurshid saying it was a "serious matter" and that a "forgery" has been committed. Congress has refrained from going into the merits of the allegations saying that the Law Minister's wife has already clarified the matter.

PTI