Former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the summons issued to him by a trial court over accusations of criminal conspiracy and corruption in the illegal award of a coal field. Upset over the summons issued to him, Manmohan had earlier this month said he was sure that the truth would prevail in the matter.
"I hope in any fair trial, I would be able to establish my total innocence. I have stated before the CBI my position and I have also as a prime minister issued a statement justifying what we did," he said.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi had led a solidarity march to Manmohan Singh's residence in the national capital, saying that the party was outraged on hearing the news of the summons being served by a court on the former prime minister. She had also said that the Congress was fully behind him.
A special CBI court in Delhi summoned Manmohan Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary P C Parakh in a coal block allocation case, terming it a "criminal conspiracy" with the objective to "do an illegal act".
The court summoned them on alleged charges of criminal conspiracy, breach of trust and under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. They have all been asked to appear before the court on April 8.
The case pertains to the allocation of the Talabira II coal block in Odisha to Hindalco in 2005, when Singh was holding the coal portfolio.
Known for his personal integrity and humble lifestyle, Singh has not been charged with any crime but is being investigated for criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption, a prosecution lawyer said.
The CBI had earlier excluded Singh from the investigation. His Congress party called the summons a backlash against its opposition to economic reforms that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to push through parliament.
