New Delhi, July 29: The Supreme Court has acquitted former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation case. The court annulled the summons issued to Dr. Singh by the trial court in 2015 regarding the coal block allocation controversy.
With this ruling, the Supreme Court has formally cleared the late former Prime Minister of charges in one of the most notable criminal cases from the UPA government era. The court determined that there were no substantial grounds to reject the CBI’s closure report or to take cognizance against him.
The Supreme Court overturned the Special CBI Court’s 2015 order, which had summoned Dr. Singh and five others as accused in the Talabira-2 coal block allocation case. Accepting the appeal, the Supreme Court endorsed the CBI’s closure report, stating that the special judge had no valid reason to dismiss the closure or to take cognizance of the alleged offenses.
A bench led by Chief Justice Suryakant noted that the CBI had filed two separate closure reports after completing its investigation, both of which were rejected by the special judge. Consequently, the Supreme Court has annulled the March 11, 2015 order and accepted the CBI’s closure report, closing the case on merit.
On March 11, 2015, the Special CBI Court had dismissed the CBI’s closure report and summoned Dr. Singh and five others to face trial for crimes under IPC Section 120-B for criminal conspiracy and Section 409 for criminal breach of trust. This case pertains to the allocation of the Talabira-2 coal block in 2005. The Supreme Court had stayed this action on April 1, 2015.
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