Setting aside a Delhi Special CBI Court’s 2015 order summoning former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a coal block allocation scam case, the Supreme Court on Wednesday closed the criminal case against him.A Bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant allowed his appeal, saying there was no justification for the Special Judge to reject the CBI closure report and take cognisance against the former Prime Minister and summon him as an accused in the case.The Bench – which also included Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana — closed the criminal case against Singh as it accepted the CBI’s closure report giving a clean chit to the former Prime Minister and others.A noted economist, Manmohan Singh served as the Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He died on December 26, 2024.On behalf of the late former Prime Minister, senior counsel Kapil Sibal told the Bench that while the appeal had technically become infructuous after Singh’s demise, the trial court’s remarks warranted interference. He requested the court to expunge the remarks against the former Prime Minister.As senior counsel RS Cheema, representing the CBI, said issues relating to the validity of certain provisions survived in connected matters, senior advocate AM Singhvi said at least the remarks against Singh could be expunged.“Due to the unfortunate demise of the appellant (Manmohan Singh), this appeal could be disposed of as infructuous. But with a view to consider the aspect of the learned Special Judge taking cognizance and summoning the appellant, we have gone through both closure reports filed by the CBI,” the Bench said.“Having regard to the relevant parameters consistently laid down by this court on acceptance of reports of the investigating agency, we are satisfied that there was no reason for the learned (Special) Judge to turn down the closure reports of the CBI and take cognizance,” the Bench said, setting aside the Special Judge’s cognisance order.Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, ex-coal secretary P C Parakh and three others were summoned as accused by a special court in a coal scam case pertaining to allocation of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005. The Supreme Court, however, intervened and stayed the directive.Singh questioned the absence of the mandated sanction for prosecuting public officials like him, and denied any criminality in his decision concerning the coal block allocation.