Coal scam: Manmohan Singh not silent anymore, says truth shall prevail

Reacting to the latest summons by a special CBI court, early today, former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh said today that he will get a chance to put forward his case with all the facts and expressed confidence that the truth will prevail.

He told a gathering of reporters outside the Parliament today, after the summons were sought by the court, “Of course, I am upset but this is part of life.’ He further added, "I have always said I am open for legal scrutiny. I am sure the truth will prevail and I will get a chance to put forward my case with all the facts.”

Manmohan Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, ex-coal secretary P C Parakh and three others were summoned as accused by the special court in a coal scam case pertaining to allocation of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005 and asked to appear before it on April 8.


Besides these three, the court also summoned M/s Hindalco, its officials Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya as accused in the case. If convicted, the accused are liable to be sentenced for a maximum of life imprisonment. The case pertains to allocation of Talabira II coal block in Odisha to M/s Hindalco in 2005, when the then Prime Minister Singh was holding the coal portfolio.

CBI, in its FIR, had named Parakh, Birla, M/s Hindalco Industries Ltd and other unknown persons for alleged offences under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and under provisions of the PCA. However, the agency had later on filed a closure report in the court, which had refused to accept it.

The court, in its December 16 last year order, had directed CBI to examine former Prime Minister Singh and some top officials of then Prime Minister Office (PMO), including Singh's then Principal Secretary T K A Nair and then private secretary B V R Subramanyam.