Ex-minister deposes against Manmohan Singh, says the former PM was the final authority in coal block allocation

In a setback to Manmohan Singh, minister of state in the United Progressive Alliance government Dasari Narayana Rao has deposed against the former prime minister in the coal block allocation case.

Rao has claimed that Singh was the final authority in the allocation of coal blocks to the Jindals. He said that Singh was the in charge of Coal Ministry at the time when allocations were made.

Recently, former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda had told a special court that if there was any conspiracy to allocate the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to the Jindal group firm, it could not have been without the knowledge of Manmohan Singh who was also the coal minister at that time.

"The coal minister was aware of everything and if at all there was a conspiracy, as CBI says, it cannot be complete without the knowledge of the coal minister," Koda's counsel told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar.

Koda, Congress leader and industrialist Naveen Jindal and 13 others were chargesheeted by the CBI in the case earlier.

In his plea, Koda said, "the materials placed by CBI shows that the said conspiracy, if any, cannot be complete without the involvement of the Coal Minister (Singh) who had the final say in the entire allotment."