Court suspends summons for Manmohan Singh

NEW DELHI: India’s top court on Wednesday suspended a summons requiring former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to appear as one of the accused in a corruption trial involving coal mining licences.
Singh, who was prime minister from 2004 until last year, was the highest-profile figure to be implicated in the case involving the government licence allocations, long dogged by suspicions of corruption.
He faces allegations of corruption-related offences, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, which carries a possible life sentence.
On Wednesday the Supreme Court agreed to consider challenges by Singh and five other accused, including a former coal minister and a prominent industrialist.
It stayed the summons issued by the trial court.
The 82-year-old enjoyed a reputation for probity during his decade as head of the Congress-led government ousted in last year’s general election. He has denied any wrongdoing.