New Delhi: Former minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao on Monday sought summoning of Manmohan Singh, claiming in a Special Court that the office of the then prime minister had allocated a coal block to Jindal group after examining and re-examining the matter.
Supporting ex-Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda’s plea seeking summoning of Mr Singh as additional accused in a coal block allocation scam case, Mr Rao’s counsel told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand was allotted to Naveen Jindal Group firms and the decision was taken by the then Prime Minister who was also the Coal Minister at that time.
“I am supporting the (Koda’s) application,” Mr Rao’s counsel Satish Maneshinde told the court. He said it was the Prime Minister’s Office which had examined and re-examined the issue of allocation of coal block and then decided to allocate it to the Jindal Group firms.
Senior advocate S.V. Raju, appearing for former MP and industrialist Naveen Jindal, neither supported nor opposed Koda’s plea to summon Mr Singh. He said that any order passed by the court should not prejudice the rights of the accused to seek discharge.
