New Delhi: Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda on Monday moved an application in court that sought the summoning of former prime minister Manmohan Singh as an accused in a coal block allocation case.
The plea also sought the summoning of Jharkhand bureaucrats A. Swarup and Jai Shankar Tiwari as co-accused.
According to reports, the case pertains to the allocation of the Amarkonda-Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge.
The massive irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks came to light in 2012 after the national auditor said Rs. 1.86 lakh crore had been lost as the blocks had been distributed without a transparent bidding process.
Most of these allocations have been made by the erstwhile UPA Government. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had also been summoned in one of the cases, received a reprieve from the Supreme Court in April.
Last year, the Supreme Court declared nearly 300 coal licenses issued since 1993 as illegal. After coming to power, the Narendra Modi government has auctioned 32 coal blocks.