Relief for Manmohan, SC stays Coalgate summons

Apex Court issues notice to CBI on ex-Prime Minister’s appeal

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court gave relief to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday while it stayed a trial court order summoning him as an accused in a coal scam case and also restrained the special CBI judge from proceeding with the matter.

A bench headed by justice V Gopal Gowda issued a notice to t he Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Singh’s appeal challenging the lower court’s order that had directed him to appear before it on April 8 under charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption.

The case pertains to the 2005 allocation of the Talabira- II and III coal blocks in Odisha to aluminium major Hindalco when Singh was also coal minister.

Special CBI judge Bharat Parashar had on March 11 rejected the investigating agency’s closure report and summoned the former PM and five others as accused.

The apex court relief was also extended to former coal secretary PC Parakh, industri- alist Kumar Mangalam Birla, his company Hindalco and two executives from the firm.

The 35-minute-long proceedings were watched by Singh’s daughters, Upinder and Daman, while a battery of lawyers, including former union ministers Kapil Sibal and Ashwani Kumar, represented him.

Sibal led the argument and criticised the trial court for exceeding jurisdiction.

“I must confess that I have not been able to find out what is the illegal act done by the petitioner [Singh] in the case,” he told the bench. “Is it illegal to allot a mine or is it not legal to allot it to a private party. There is no statutory prohibition in doing so.” HAJIPUR/NEW DELHI: Union minister Giriraj Singh triggered a political storm on Wednesday following a racist comment against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, causing massive embarrassment for the NDA government.

The minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprise was caught on tape telling reporters in an off- therecord interaction with reporters in Hajipur town in Bihar, “Had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white- skinned woman, would the Congress have then

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