Bulandshahr:
Law Minister Salman Khurshid has refuted allegations that his NGO in Uttar Pradesh embezzled funds meant to help the differently-abled. The charges against Mr Khurshid, first alleged by a Hindi news channel Aaj Tak, and then by activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal, have plunged the government into its latest battle against corruption charges.
Now, a senior government official in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district has presented a new conglomerate of charges against the Law Minister.
Deepak Ohari, Chief Medical Officer, says that documents submitted by Congressmen to support Mr Khurshid have his forged signature along with that of other officials in the area. The signatures are on forms that attest special-needs people were given assistance by the minister's NGO. Instead, Mr Ohari claims that only five of the 42 beneficiaries listed actually received equipment like mechanised tricyles from the organisation.
Congress workers yesterday paraded a group of people who they said attended a camp held on April 2, 2010, where hearing aids and mechanised tricycles were distributed. But a man named Rehemuddin told reporters that received his tricycle just a few hours before yesterday's event. Another man, Joginder, said that his father, who died in 2009, was shown as the recipient of a hearing aid a year later.
Mr Khurshid's party, the Congress, has said that there is no need for him to resign and that he has taken the TV channel to court to counter the charges. As for Mr Kejriwal and his supporters, who are holding a sit-in camp in Delhi to ask for the minister's dismissal, Mr Kuhrshid says he will not resign "to oblige them."
But a draft report filed by the UP government's auditor in June also suggests financial malpractices by Mr Khurshid's NGO, which is run by his wife, Louise. The couple has said that the auditor did not contact them for their side of the story.