The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday a plea for constitution of a special investigating team to probe the death of Asutosh Asthana, the prime accused in the Uttar Pradesh multi-crore Provident Fund scam, in which names of several judicial officials and judges, including one belonging to the apex court, have cropped up.
The apex court has agreed to take up the matter for hearing on an urgent application moved by Nahar Singh Yadav, secretary of the Ghaziabad Bar Association who had filed the petition for a probe in the scam last year.
In the fresh application, the petitioner claimed that Asthana had died under mysterious circumstances which could be due to poisoning.
Asthana (43) was found dead on October 17 in Dasna district jail at Ghaziabad where he was lodged in connection with the scam.
The accused, who was a treasury officer at the Ghaziabad court, was arrested in April 2008 for allegedly siphoning off the Provident Funds of class III and IV employees.
During investigation and interrogation of Asthana, names of 36 judges of various courts had cropped up as alleged beneficiaries of the scam.
CBI is presently investigating the case under the apex court's direction. PTI
