New Delhi: The CBI on Monday virtually gave a clean chit in the Supreme Court to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was coal minister at that time, in the coal block allocations scam, saying there was no dishonest intention on the part of Dr Singh in his decisions.
Senior counsel Amarendra Saran, appearing for the CBI, told the ‘coal bench’ of Justices Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A.K. Sikri that Dr. Singh and former minister of state for coal Santosh Bagrodia can’t be placed on same footing.
The bench was hearing an appeal filed by Mr Bagrodia challenging the summons issued by the trial court for his appearance in the case as an accused in connection with the allocation of Maharashtra’s Bander coal block to AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd. On September 7, the bench had refused to stay summons.
