NEW DELHI: One more accused in the coal block allocation scam, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, on Monday sought that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh be summoned before court. He claimed Singh’s office had allocated coal blocks after examining and re-examining the matter.
Rao’s counsel Satish Maneshinde told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand was allotted to Congress leader and former MP Naveen Jindal’s firms and the decision was taken by then Prime Minister, who was also coal minister at the time.
“I am supporting the (Koda’s) application,” Rao’s counsel told court during arguments on ex-Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda’s plea seeking summoning of Singh and two others — Anand Swaroop, then Secretary (Energy), and Jai Shankar Tiwari, then Secretary (Mines and Geology) — as additional accused in the case, which was filed last month.
In his plea, Koda had said, “Materials placed by the CBI shows the said conspiracy, if any, cannot be complete without the involvement of the (then) coal minister (Manmohan Singh) who had the final say in the entire allotment.”
Jindal’s advocate SV Raju, told the court he neither supported nor opposed Koda’s plea to summon Singh.