Ex-Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda urges court to summon Manmohan Singh in coal block allocation case

New Delhi: Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda on Monday urged a Delhi court to summon former prime minister Manmohan Singh in connection with a coal block allocation case. Koda moved his application against Manmohan Singh, who was then holding the portfolio of the coal ministry, and two others accused in the case before Special Judge Bharat Parashar. [caption id=“attachment_1805989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda.[/caption] The court was hearing a case related to the allocation of Jharkhand’s Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Gagan Sponge. In his plea, Koda said that “the materials placed by the CBI shows that the said conspiracy, if any, cannot be complete without the involvement of the coal minister (Manmohan 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,” Koda said in the application. He said that the charge sheet claimed that the allocation was “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”. He also sought the summoning of the then secretary (energy) Anand Swaroop, and the then secretary (mines and geology) Jai Shankar Tiwari, saying they were part of the three-member sub-group formed by the Jharkhand Government to evaluate the pleas of firms and suggest suitable application for recommendation by the state. The court asked the CBI to file a reply on the plea and posted the matter for 28 August. Congress leader Naveen Jindal, Koda, 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 under the Prevention of Corruption Act. IANS