No evidence against Manmohan Singh in coal case: CBI

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday told a special court that there is no prima facie evidence against former prime minister Manmohan Singh in coal block allocation case allegedly involving Jindal group firms.
Special Public Prosecutor R.S. Cheema told Special Judge Bharat Parashar that there is no evidence against Manmohan Singh to name him as an accused in allocation of Jharkhand’s Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Gagan Sponge.
Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda had filed a plea last month seeking summoning of Manmohan Singh in the case but the CBI opposed it saying that the application was filed to delay the trial.
Citing various records, the prosecutor also said that the then prime minister, who was also holding coal portfolio at that time, was not part of any conspiracy in allocating coal block to Jindal Group firms.
The CBI also said the application was “devoid of any merits” and said that the plea was a work of an accused person to deviate the court from the case.
It told the court that a comprehensive and complete probe has been conducted in the case and nothing was found against Manmohan Singh.
The court set October 16 for delivering its order on Koda’s plea.
Koda, in his plea, 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.”
Apart from Koda, Congress leader Naveen Jindal, former union minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao, former coal secretary H.C. Gupta and others have been named as accused in the case.
They have been charge sheeted for criminal conspiracy and cheating as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act. However, Congress leader and industrialist Jindal had submitted that neither he is opposing nor supporting Koda’s application. (IANS)