BackManmohan Singh’s case has different facts from Santosh Bagrodia’s: CBI
A Supreme Court bench said that it would hear further arguments from the lawyers on 29 September
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New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday sought to make a distinction between its case against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and that against minister of state for coal Santosh Bagrodia before the Supreme Court.
Defending its stance against Bagrodia, who is also seeking a stay of criminal proceedings in relation to coal mine allocation cases at the lower court, CBI lawyer Amrendra Sharan said that the two were distinct and different.
Bagrodia was summoned as an accused in the allocation of Maharashtra’s Bander coal block to AMR Iron and Steel Pvt. Ltd.
The summons issued to Singh by a special court hearing criminal cases arising out of the coal block allocations from 1993-2010 in relation to an Odisha coal mine were stayed by the apex court on 1 April.
Singh’s case was based on a different set of facts and circumstances, Sharan told the court. “Interim order passed in a different case cannot have any bearing here," he added, arguing that Singh’s case could not be used to grant similar relief to Bagrodia.
A bench comprising justices Madan B. Lokur, Kurian Joseph and A.K. Sikri said that they would hear further arguments from the lawyers on 29 September.
According to Bagrodia’s lawyer K.K. Venugopal, the allegations against Singh were greater than those against Bagrodia, which pertained to Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and Section 13(1)(d)(iii) (criminal misconduct by a public servant—by obtaining for someone monetary advantage without any public interest) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (PCA). Singh had been summoned under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public official) IPC, aside from Section 120B and Section 13(1)(d)(iii).
Venugopal sought exemption for Bagrodia, 75, from having to make personal appearance at the trial court on account of his age.
Last week, Singh’s lawyer Kapil Sibal said that his case, which is grouped with appeals by industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, was wider than simply a coal block allocation related issue, and thus had to be heard by an appropriate bench (which was not the three-judge bench hearing all coal block allocation related cases). The chief justice of India H.L. Dattu then allowed the case to be listed before such a bench.
PTI contributed to this report.
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