SC closes case against ex-PM Manmohan Singh in coal block allocation case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed a criminal case against former prime minister Manmohan Singh in a coal block allocation case while setting aside a summoning order passed against him.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana accepted the CBI's closure report giving a clean chit to the former PM and others.

The top court said there was no reason for the trial court judge to turn down closure reports of CBI and take cognisance.

"Due to unfortunate demise of the appellant, this appeal could be disposed of as infructuous. But with a view to consider the aspect of ld. spl. judge taking cognisance and summoning the appellant, we have gone through both closure reports filed by CBI.

"Having regard to the relevant parameters consistently laid down by this court on acceptance of reports of investigating agency, we are satisfied that there was no reason for ld. judge to turn down closure reports of CBI and take cognisance. We allow the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment. As a result, we accept the closure reports of CBI and close the matter," the bench said.

Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, ex-coal secretary P C Parakh and three others were summoned as accused by a special court in a coal scam case pertaining to allocation of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005.

The Supreme Court, however, intervened and stayed the directive.

Singh questioned the absence of the mandated sanction for prosecuting public officials like him, and denied any criminality in his decision concerning the coal block allocation.