Coal scam: KTS Tulsi expresses 'surprise' at Manmohan summons

Supreme Court advocate and Rajya Sabha MP KTS Tulsi on Wednesday expressed 'surprise' over the summons issued to former prime minister Manmohan Singh in connection with the coal blocks allocation scam, opining that there was no evidence against the economist for the same.

"It is quite surprising because according to whatever knowledge I have, there was no material against him except that he had conceded the request of the chief minister of Odisha, who said that this is a number one project in the state and is going to provide maximum employment. On that basis, the letter of recommendation was forwarded by Manmohan Singh," Tulsi told the media.

"It is beyond my comprehension as to how this can constitute an offence in upholding the basic feature of the federal structure of the Constitution of India," he added.

Earlier in the day, a special CBI court summoned the former prime minister, along with former coal secretary P C Parakh, Aditya Birla Group chairman K M Birla and three others in connection with the coal blocks allocation scam.

The court has summoned them on April 8 for offences of criminal conspiracy, breach of trust and under provisions of prevention of corruption act.