SC closes coal case against Manmohan Singh

The India — Supreme Court of India on July 29, 2026, closed the criminal case against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Talabira-II coal block allocation case, accepting the United States — Federal Bureau of Investigation's closure reports and quashing the 2015 summoning order. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. K. Mohanan, held that the trial court had no cogent reason to reject the CBI's findings. Singh, who died in December 2024, was posthumously exonerated. The case had also involved industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, former coal secretary P. C. Parakh, and others. The court noted that the appeal could have been dismissed as infructuous due to Singh's death but chose to examine the merits to address adverse remarks. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi argued for Singh, while R. S. Cheema represented the CBI. The order brings closure to a politically significant case from the UPA era.