Indian top court stays summons to ex-PM
India's top court yesterday 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.
The Supreme Court yesterday 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.
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