Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has received major legal relief from the Supreme Court after his demise. The apex court has quashed the summon order issued by the special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2015 in the coal block allocation case. The court said that CBI had already given clean chit to Dr. Manmohan Singh after investigation, hence the special court had no proper basis to summon him as an accused.
The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohan accepted the appeal filed by Dr. Manmohan Singh, validated the closure report of CBI and ended the entire proceedings related to it. Although Dr. Manmohan Singh died in December 2024, the Supreme Court said that the observations of the special court were against him, hence it was necessary to examine the validity of its order.
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Court heard appeal even after death
During the hearing, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court that legally this appeal could have been considered closed automatically after the death of Dr. Manmohan Singh. He demanded that the adverse observations made by the CBI special court be expunged from the record. Sibal said that those comments affect the image and respect of the former Prime Minister. The Supreme Court agreed with his argument and after reviewing the case said that the order of the special court was not correct.
SC accepts CBI’s closure report as correct
The Supreme Court said in its decision that the CBI had filed a closure report after the completion of the investigation, in which Dr. Manmohan Singh was declared free from any kind of corruption or criminal role. Despite this, the special CBI court rejected the closure report and took cognizance against six people including him under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The top court said that the laid down legal principles were not followed while deciding on the closure report of the investigating agency, hence the order of the special court cannot stand.
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case completely closed
The Supreme Court, setting aside the 2015 summoning order of the special court, accepted the closure report of the CBI and ended the entire proceedings related to Dr. Manmohan Singh. This decision came during the hearing of cases related to coal block allocation. During the hearing, Kapil Sibal said, ‘At that time the atmosphere of the country was different, today the circumstances have changed.’ This decision of the Supreme Court is being seen as restoration of the honor and legal reputation of late former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
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