Record Manmohan Singh's statement: Court tells CBI

New Delhi, Dec 16: A special court hearing the coal block case involving industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and others here Tuesday asked the CBI to record the statement of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was then also holding the coal ministry portfolio. Special Judge Bharat Parashar asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to record the statement of Manmohan Singh in the case. The court also ordered the CBI to conduct further investigation in the case and posted the matter for Jan 27. "I have ordered further investigation. I desire that statement of then coal minister (Manmohan Singh) be recorded beside other officials," the judge said. The court heard a closure report filed in the case related to the allocation of Talabira II and III coal blocks in Odisha to Hindalco in 2005. "...the entire proceedings which took place in the ministry of coal or the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) with regard to allocation of Talabira-II coal block to Hindalco, I am of the considered opinion that before the matter is examined further as to what offence, if any, stands committed or by whom the same has been committed, it will be appropriate that the then minister of coal be first examined," it said. "I also find that some officers who were working in the PMO at that time and were concerned in one respect or the other with the allocation process in question were either not examined or were not properly examined." The court observed that B.V.R. Subramanyam was the private secretary to the prime minister and has not been examined. T.K.A. Nair, who was working as the principal secretary, PMO, has been examined through a questionnaire. He refused to answer some of the questions, expressing his inability that he was not in a frame of mind to answer further. "Thus, it will be appropriate if the investigating officer (IO) examine Subramanyam and re-examine Nair," the court ordered.