Coalscam: Madhu Koda seeks to summon Manmohan Singh as accused

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda today sought to drag former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an accused in a coal scam case by telling a special court that the "ultimate final authority" cannot be allowed to go "scot-free" without facing trial.
He moved an application seeking to summon Singh as an accused along with Anand Swaroop, the then Secretary (Energy), and Jai Shankar Tiwari, the then Secretary(Mines and Geology), contending that CBI's theory of conspiracy remains incomplete without the involvement of the then Prime Minister who was also holding the portfolio of Coal Minister.
Koda said Singh being the final authority to allocate coal blocks, cannot escape from the consequences of his decision.

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). Koda, Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and 13 others were chargesheeted by the CBI in the case earlier.
In his plea, Koda said, "the materials placed by CBI shows that the said conspiracy, if any, cannot be complete without the involvement of the Coal Minister (Singh) who had the final say in the entire allotment."
"The materials on record show that the Coal Minister was aware of the facts of the case and had taken the decision consciously with full application of mind to allot coal block to JSPL and GSIPL...Which according to the CBI is the result of conspiracy and is illegal. Hence, he (Singh) is also required to be summoned," the plea filed before Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said.

It further said that the court is required to consider that the case of all the other accused "stand on a better footing as compared to Dr Manmohan Singh" who has taken the ultimate and final decision to allot the coal block to JSPL and GSIPL.
The application said that during investigation, the chargesheet says that the allocation has been "made wrongly and not in public interest, (so) the ultimate final authority who made the allotment cannot be allowed to go scot-free without even facing the trial.