Former PM, KM Birla, PC Parakh, 3 others told to appear before CBI court on April 8
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was on Wednesday summoned as an accused by a special CBI court for his alleged role in the multi-crore coal block allocation scam case involving KM Birla-owned M/s Hindalco.
Besides Singh, Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar also summoned industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary PC Parakh and three others as accused in the case. They were asked to appear before the special court on April 8.
If found guilty, the accused may face maximum punishment of up to life imprisonment as the court has taken cognisance of offences of criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust by public servants or by banker, merchant or agent under the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The case pertains to allocation of Talabira II coal block in Odisha to M/s Hindalco in 2005, when 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 criminal conspiracy. 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 order, had directed CBI to examine role of Singh and some top officials of the then Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), including Singh’s then Principal Secretary TKA Nair and then Private Secretary BVR Subramanyam.
Issuing the summons, the judge said, “I am taking cognisance of offences under Sections 120B, 409 of the IPC and under Sections 13(1)(c) and 13(1)(d)(3) of PCA against six accused — M/s Hindalco, Shubhendu Amitabh, D Bhattacharya, Kumar Mangalam Birla, PC Parakh and Dr Manmohan Singh.”
Section 13(1)(c) of PCA relates to a public servant dishonestly misappropriating property entrusted to him or allowing any other person to do so. Section 13(1)(d)(3) relates to a public servant obtaining any pecuniary advantage for any person without any public interest.
As per the 73-page order, “prima facie it is clear that the impugned criminal conspiracy — which was initially conceived by Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya and Kumar Mangalam Birla and M/s Hindalco — was carried out further by roping in PC Parakh, who was the then Secretary (Coal), and thereafter Manmohan Singh, the then Minister of Coal.”
On Singh’s role in the case, the judge said he (Singh) allowed the matter pertaining to allocation of Talabira II coal block to be “reopened” even though he himself had permitted approval of minutes of the 25th Screening Committee recommending allocation of the coal block to Neyveli lignite Corporation ltd (NlC).
“The repeated reminders from the PMO, written as well as telephonic, to the MOC (Ministry of Coal) to expeditiously process the matter in view of the letters received from Kumar Mangalam Birla also prima facie indicate the extra undue interest shown by the PMO in the matter,” it said. While arriving at a conclusion regarding prima facie involvement of Singh The court said it had to act with a “heavy conscience and with full realisation”.
It noted that Singh chose to keep the coal portfolio with him and “prima facie he cannot claim that being the Prime Minister he could not be expected to personally look into the minute details of each and every case”.
The order said, “there was a concerted joint effort to somehow accommodate M/s Hindalco in Talabira-II, coal block. It was the central common objective of the impugned criminal conspiracy known to all concerned.” The judge said there was no need to obtain prior sanction to prosecute Singh and Parakh for offences under Prevention of Corruption Act as they have since retired.
In the order, the court said Birla being the Chairman of a leading industrial house of the country played an “active role” by tapping his bureaucratic and political channels to secure allocation of Talabira-II coal block in favour of Hindalco. The court, which went into details of the deliberations leading to allocation of Talabira II coal block to Hindalco noted that it was a “well-planned and well-designed exercise” which was meticulously carried out to be termed as criminal conspiracy.
On Parakh’s role, the court said, “He (Parakh) chose to remain silent as regard the excess coal allocation to M/s Hindalco even after the new proposal to accommodate M/s Hindalco in Talabira-II & III Coal Block was approved by the Minister of Coal (Singh).”
“This act of silence on his (Parakh) part prima-facie appears to be a conscious decision. He even made a wrong noting in the file by stating that both NlC and MCl (Mahanadi Coalfields ltd) intends to establish the power plant jointly by forming a joint venture company,” the court observed. “Thus these acts of omission and commission prima-facie raise grave shadows of doubts about his (Parakh) conduct in the entire process,” it said.