Coalgate: Court wants Manmohan Singh to be Questioned

In a major jolt to the Congress Party, a special CBI court has ordered the investigating agency to record the statement of former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in connection with illegal coal block allocations. Dr. Singh was in charge of Coal Ministry when the scam took place.

The special CBI court was hearing the coal block case involving industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and Hindalco. The CBI has been ordered to complete the investigation and and submit the progress report by January 27.

The CBI had booked Kumar Mangalam Birla, former coal secretary P C Parakh and others on charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption in coal block allocation. However, later it filed a closure report, saying the evidence collected during the probe did not substantiate the allegations levelled against the people named in the FIR.

The court refused to accept the closure report and ordered further investigation along with recording of statement from the Dr. Manmohan Singh.