SC closes case against former PM Singh in coal block allocation scam

The Supreme Court on Wednesday closed a criminal case against former prime minister Manmohan Singh in a coal block allocation case while setting aside a summoning order passed against him. Singh, who passed away on December 27 2024, now stands formally acquitted in the high-profile criminal case.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana accepted the CBI’s closure report giving a clean chit to the former PM and others. The top court said there was no reason for the trial court judge to turn down closure reports of CBI and take cognisance.

“Due to unfortunate demise of the appellant, this appeal could be disposed of as infructuous. But with a view to consider the aspect of ld. spl. judge taking cognisance and summoning the appellant, we have gone through both closure reports filed by CBI.

“Having regard to the relevant parameters consistently laid down by this court on acceptance of reports of investigating agency, we are satisfied that there was no reason for ld. judge to turn down closure reports of CBI and take cognisance. We allow the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment. As a result, we accept the closure reports of CBI and close the matter,” the bench said.

Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, ex-coal secretary PC Parakh and three others were summoned as accused by a special court in a coal scam case pertaining to allocation of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005.

The Supreme Court, however, intervened and stayed the directive.

Singh had questioned the absence of the mandated sanction for prosecuting public officials like him, and denied any criminality in his decision concerning the coal block allocation.

Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar had summoned the six accused for the alleged offences punishable under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent) of the IPC and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Besides these three, the court had also summoned M/s Hindalco, its officials Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya as accused in the case.

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 had directed CBI to examine former Prime Minister Singh and some top officials of the then Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), including Singh’s then Principal Secretary T K A Nair and then private secretary B V R Subramanyam.