Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been cleared of all criminal proceedings in the coal block allocation case after the Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) closure reports and quashed the 2015 summoning order issued against him. The verdict formally brings an end to a decade-long legal battle linked to one of India's most high-profile corruption cases.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana, held that there were no compelling reasons for the trial court to reject the CBI's closure reports or proceed against the former Prime Minister. The court set aside the impugned orders and closed the matter on merits.
The case stemmed from the allocation of coal blocks to Hindalco during Singh's tenure as Prime Minister and Coal Minister. In 2015, a special CBI court had summoned Singh after rejecting the agency's closure report. The Supreme Court had stayed that summons the same year while hearing his appeal.
Appearing for the late former Prime Minister, senior advocate Kapil Sibal urged the court to erase the adverse observations made against Singh, arguing that the allocation was an administrative decision and that no criminal wrongdoing had been established.
Accepting the CBI's findings, the apex court concluded that there was no justification for prosecuting Singh or the other accused, effectively giving the former Prime Minister a clean chit in the matter. The ruling comes more than 18 months after Singh's death on December 26, 2024, bringing legal closure to a case that had remained pending for over a decade.
-
15-Year-Old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi Named East Zone Vice-Captain For Duleep Trophy 2026
-
Juventus midfielder Douglas Luiz ‘dreams’ of joining Manchester United
-
Real Madrid open Rodri talks with Manchester City
-
FIFA President Gianni Infantino pushes plan to sell stakes in $20 billion company to private investors
-
Brazil defender handed huge, unprecedented ban after leg-break tackle
