New Delhi: Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda today moved an application before a special court seeking summoning of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and two others as accused in a coal scam case in which CBI had chargesheeted industrialist Naveen Jindal and others.
Koda, who is also an accused in the case, sought summoning of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was then holding the portfolio of the Coal Ministry, Anand Swarup who was then Secretary (Energy) and then Mines and Geology Secretary Jai Shankar Tiwari.
The copy of Koda’s application was supplied to CBI and the court asked the agency to file its reply, if any on the plea. However, Koda’s counsel told the court that the arguments on the application be heard along with arguments on framing of charges in the case.
The court then fixed August 28 for scrutiny of documents supplied to the accused by CBI along with its charge sheet. The case pertains to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to two Jindal group companies, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt Ltd (GSIPL).
Besides Jindal, Koda, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, ex-Coal Secretary H C Gupta and 11 others, including five firms, are accused in the case. The other individual accused in the case are – Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, Directors of GSIPL, Suresh Singhal, Director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, K Ramakrishna Prasad, Managing Director of Sowbhagya Media Ltd and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg.
