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Delhi Court asks why former PM wasnt questioned in Coal-gate

by IBNS 24 Nov 2014, 11:38 pm

New Delhi, Nov 25 (IBNS): A court in Delhi on Tuesday asked the nations premier investigation agency why it had not quizzed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the illegal allocation of a coal block to a firm owned by industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla in 2005, media reports said.

Singh held direct charge of the Coal Ministry at the time. Neither the judge nor the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) referred to him by name in their exchange.

“Don’t you think examination of the then coal minister was necessary in the matter?” the judge asked.

The agency also responded saying the then Coal Minister was not permitted to be examined, reports said.

Earlier in August this year, the Supreme Court had cancelled nearly 200 coal block allocations. The government is now set to auction those coal fields.