Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court challenging summons issued against him as accused along with others by a CBI court in connection with the controversial allocation of Talabira-II block in Odisha.
Singh, and former coal secretary P C Parakh and industrialist Kumaramangalam Birla urged the apex court to quash the trial court’s order passed on March 11. In separate petitions, they claimed that the order by the special judge was passed without the proper application of mind. The Special CBI court rejected CBI’s closure plea and issued summons against Singh, Parakh, Birla, along with two others — Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya — as accused on April 8.
Singh said that there was no criminal intent on his part as layered administrative making mechanism was involved in the process. Singh’s petition is likely to be mentioned for urgent hearing in a day or two.