A special court on Friday refused to summon former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an accused in a coal scam case, observing that sufficient evidence was not there to call him and held ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s plea in this regard as “devoid of any merits“.

Dismissing Koda’s plea in which he had sought summoning of Singh and two others as additional accused in the case, the court said that averments made in the application were “self-contradictory in nature.”

Different yardstick Referring to a Supreme Court verdict in which apex court had discussed the role and position of the Prime Minister, the court said that seeking summoning of Singh as PM has to be seen from a completely different yardstick.

“Thus, I am of the considered opinion that seeking summoning of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister has to be seen from a completely different yardstick, than seeking his summoning as a Minister,” Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar said.

“Though one may argue that summoning of Mammohan Singh as Minister of Coal should be considered, but as already mentioned by me that at this stage of the matter I do not find sufficient evidence warranting his summoning as an accused in the present case,” the judge said in his 23-page order.

“Accordingly, the present application being devoid of any merits is hereby dismissed,” the court said.

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