Manmohan in coal case: Court rejects CBI closure report

New Delhi, Aug 25: A special court established last year to specifically try the cases relating to the allocation of coal blocks has rejected closure reports filed by the CBI in six of cases, including one against former prime minister Manmohan Singh. The apex court had on July 18, 2014 set up a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court to try, on a day-to-day basis, cases arising from the allocation of coal blocks. The CBI, which filed its first charge sheet in the matter on March 10, 2014, had filed investigation reports in 15 cases. Of these, the agency filed charge-sheets in nine cases and closure reports in six cases. The court was not satisfied with the CBI's closure reports in five of the cases, and asked the agency to conduct a further probe. Among the five cases was one related to a coal block allocation to Hindalco, in which Manmohan Singh was summoned, as were industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former coal secretary P.C. Parakh, among others. The case related to allocation of the Talabira II coal block in Odisha to Hindalco in 2005. This order was passed on March 11, 2015.