Court to pass order on Koda’s plea to summon ex-PM

A special court is likely to pronounce on Friday its order on the plea of ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda seeking summoning of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an additional accused in a coal scam case.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar had on September 28 reserved the order on Koda's plea after the agency had opposed it saying that there was no evidence which even prima facie suggests that Singh was part of any conspiracy in allocation of a coal block to Naveen Jindal Group firms. CBI had argued in the court that the plea of Koda, who has sought summoning of Singh and two others as additional accused in the case, was "devoid of any merits" and that the records do not reflect that Singh, who held the Coal Portfolio at that time, had any complicity with any accused in any manner.

It had also said there was no evidence to show that Singh had acted in a "mechanical manner" in the entire process. Meanwhile, Koda has alleged that CBI was trying to show that there was no involvement of the then Prime Minister in the entire process.