Former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao, an accused in a coal blocks allocation scam, told a special court on Friday that decisions on allocations were taken by the office of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he headed the Coal Ministry then.

Moving for bail, counsel for Mr. Rao told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar that his client had nothing to do with the allocation of the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block in Jharkhand to Naveen Jindal group.

The former Minister, industrialist Naveen Jindal, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and 12 others were granted bail on Friday.

The Special CBI Judge, after hearing the argument of the CBI that Mr. Jindal and the others could use their position to influence witnesses, commented that the parties had behaved well thus far and were cooperating with the police.

Mr. Jindal and the others will have to furnish a bail bond of Rs. 1 lakh. They have been restrained from going abroad.

Mr. Jindal faces charges of cheating and conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code, while the former Minister has been charged with abuse of position under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI case is that the Jindal firms acquired Jharkhand’s Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block by misrepresenting facts when Dasari Narayana Rao was the Minister.