THE Supreme Court on Wednesday closed a criminal case against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a coal block allocation case while setting aside a summoning order passed against him. Singh, who passed away on December 27, 2024, now stands formally acquitted in the high-profile criminal case. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana accepted the CBI’s closure report giving a clean chit to the former PM and others. The court said there was no reason for trial court judge to turn down CBI’s closure reports and take cognisance. Singh, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla, ex-Coal Secretary P C Parakh and three others were summoned as accused by a special court in the coal scam case.