A special court on Friday dismissed the plea of ex-Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda seeking to summon former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an additional accused in a coal scam case.
“The application moved by Madhu Koda is dismissed,” Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said.
The court had on September 28 reserved the order on Koda’s plea after the CBI had opposed it saying that there was no evidence, which even prima facie suggests that Dr. Singh was part of any conspiracy in allocation of a coal block to Naveen Jindal Group firms.
The CBI had argued that the plea of Koda, who had sought summoning of Dr. Singh and two others as additional accused in the case, was “devoid of any merits” and that the records do not reflect that Dr. Singh, who held the coal portfolio at that time, had any complicity with any accused in any manner.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).
Koda had sought summoning of Anand Swaroop, then secretary (Energy) and Jai Shankar Tiwari, then secretary (Mines and Geology) as additional accused in the case.
Besides Koda and then Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, the CBI had chargesheeted industrialist Naveen Jindal, former coal secretary H.C.Gupta and 11 others, including five firms, in the case.
