New Delhi: In a development which is very embarrassing for former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he has been summoned as an accused by a special court in the coal block allocation scam case, according to agencies.
Besides Singh, former coal secretaries PC Parakh and Alok Perti, Hindalco, its officials Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya, KM Birla and others as accused in the scam. They have been asked to appear in the special court on April 8.
The court has summoned them for offences of criminal conspiracy, breach of trust and under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
Reacting to the summon, Singh said, "I am open to legal scrutiny. I am upset with summon but it is part of life," and added that he had not seen the order and would reply after consulting his lawyers.
Parakh said he had to read the full order. "It will not be appropriate for me to make any comment," he said.
Hindlaco lawyers said they could not comment without reading the order.
KM Mangalam's office said they had done nothing wrong and that they would issue a statement very soon.
Singh has already been questioned once in the case. He was examined on January 18 at his Motilal Nehru Marg residence in New Delhi. A team of top CBI officials, including a DIG, questioned the former prime minister. Questions related to his knowledge about allocation and reasons for making deviations for a specific case were asked, the sources added.
Singh is the first former prime minister to have been interrogated in any case.
Singh's examination was in connection with allocation of Talabira II block to Hindalco when he was also holding the portfolio of coal.
Singh has defended his decision to allocate coal blocks to Hindalco and said it was approved after due deliberations.
The former prime minister is learnt to have said the decision was right and it was taken after due deliberation. He also told the investigators that there was no quid pro quo involved in the allocation of coal blocks to Hindalco.
Singh was examined about the developments which took place in the Ministry of Coal as well as the PMO after industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla had written two letters dated May 7, 2005 and June 17, 2005 to the then PM requesting for allocation of Talabira-II coal block to Hindalco.
Reacting to the summoning of Singh, political advisor to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Ahmad Patel, said, "If he has been summoned we will answer."
Former Union minister Manish Tiwari claimed that the former prime minister is a clean man. "The Supreme Court did not pass any strictures against Singh or any other political leader. The detailed report has to be seen. It needs to be understood. The apex court monitored and investigated case from 1993 to 2009 but they did not point finger at Manmohan Singh."
Tiwari further said such orders are challenged and the legal team of former PM will fight it out. "This was the Congress scam. Truth will come out when the mechanism of how the whole mechanism was operated. This is nothing to do with vindictiveness," he said.
Hansraj Ahir, the BJP leader who is the whistle-blower in the coal block allocation scam, welcomed the development and said this was awaited. "People expect that no accused shall be spared. Many officers are involved in the case and will take a long time. This is the first scam in which the entire recovery has been done."
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the stand of the BJP on the issue has been vindicated. "It proves that the Congress is corrupt. The Congress needs to explain. Courts do not operate under BJP. The Congress should apologise to the country and Singh."
Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, a person is not important but a system is.
Siddharth Nath Singh of the BJP said it is a court order. The court has found some merit in the case as it has summoned him as an accused.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya said, "Whosoever is guilty should be punished. CBI is investigating under the court's supervision. If the PMO is guilty, it should be punished."
Left leader Gurudas Dasgupta was of the view that said law should take its own course. "Every citizen is equal in the eye of the law. Let us see what happens. The former PM should answer by asking the question why this happened. It is not the Congress but the persons summoned who have to explain," he said.
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