Manmohan Singh not to be made an accused in coal scam case : Court
The Patiala House Court gave the ruling while rejecting a petition to summon him as an accused.
The petition was filed by former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda in August.
In his plea, Koda said, "Materials placed by the CBI shows the said conspiracy, if any, cannot be complete without the involvement of the (then) Coal Minister (Manmohan Singh) who had the final say in the entire allotment."
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal group firms -- Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).
Koda, who is one of the 15 accused in the case, had moved an application seeking to summon Manmohan Singh and two others -- Anand Swaroop, then Secretary (Energy), and Jai Shankar Tiwari, then Secretary (Mines and Geology)-- as additional accused in the case.
Earlier, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao had supported Koda's plea for summoning of Manmohan Singh while claiming that the office of the then Prime Minister had allocated a coal block to Jindal group after examining and re-examining the matter.
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