New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was on Wednesday summoned to appear in the Hindalco coal-block allocation scam as an accused.

Singh was the coal minister when Talbira II coal block was allocated to Hindalco. The charges against Singh include corruption and criminal conspiracy.

The coal scam involved mining rights being given to firms "without any transparency".
Industrialist and Hindalco owner Kumar Mangalam Birla, former coal secretary PC Parakh and three others, have also been summoned as accused.

Singh, along with all the others, have been asked to appear in court on April 8.

Earlier, on January 20, the CBI recorded Manmohan Singh's statement in connection with alleged irregularities in the allocation of an Odisha coal block to industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla’s company Hindalco.

The former Prime Minister’s statement was recorded following a direction by the special CBI court last month.

Observing that a concerted effort was being made to manipulate the entire government machinery so as to protect the interest of Hindalco, the court had directed the agency to examine the then coal minister (Manmohan Singh) on various aspects of the coal-block allocation to the company.