Summon Manmohan Singh as accused in coal scam case: Madhu Koda

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda today moved an application before a special court seeking summoning of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and two others as accused in a coal scam case in which CBI had chargesheeted industrialist Naveen Jindal and others.

Koda, who is also an accused in the case, sought summoning of Manmohan Singh, who then held the portfolio of the Coal Ministry, Anand Swarup who was then Secretary (Energy) and then Mines and Geology Secretary Jai Shankar Tiwari.

The copy of Koda's application was supplied to CBI and the court asked the agency to file its reply, if any on the plea.

However, Koda's counsel told the court that the arguments on the application be heard along with arguments on framing of charges in the case.

The court then fixed August 28 for scrutiny of documents supplied to the accused by CBI along with its charge sheet.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to two Jindal group companies, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).

Besides Jindal, Koda, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, ex-Coal Secretary H C Gupta and 11 others, including five firms, are accused in the case.

The other individual accused in the case are -- Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, Directors of GSIPL, Suresh Singhal, Director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, K Ramakrishna Prasad, Managing Director of Sowbhagya Media Ltd and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg.

Besides the ten accused, five firms -- Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd (formerly known as GSIPL), Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd -- are also accused in the case.

The court had said prima facie offences under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 420 (cheating) of IPC read with section 13(1)(c) and 13(1)(d) (criminal misconduct by a public servant) of Prevention of Corruption Act were made out against all the 15 accused.