File photo: Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda.
A special court today set September 21 for hearing the CBI's reply on former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda's plea seeking summoning of former prime minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation case involving Jindal Steel.
Special Judge Bharat Parashar listed the matter for September 21 after special public prosecutor R.S. Cheema submitted that the Central Bureau of Investigation will want to know the opinion of other accused on Koda plea before advancing its argument.
The court directed other accused to file a reply on the plea by September 21.
Mr Koda has filed a plea last month seeking summoning of Manmohan Singh in the case.
In his plea, he said: "Materials placed by the CBI shows the said conspiracy, if any, cannot be complete without the involvement of the (then) coal minister (Manmohan Singh) who had the final say in the entire allotment."
He also sought summoning of the then energy secretary Anand Swaroop and the then mines secretary Jai Shankar Tiwari, saying they were part of the three-member sub-group formed by the Jharkhand government to evaluate the pleas of firms and suggest suitable application for recommendation by the state.
The court was hearing a case related to the allocation of Jharkhand's Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Gagan Sponge.
Apart from Koda, Congress leader Naveen Jindal, former union minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao, former coal secretary H.C. Gupta and others have been named as accused in the case.
They have been charge sheeted for criminal conspiracy and cheating as well as under the Prevention of Corruption Act.