‘Irony Just Died Again’: Shashi Tharoor After SC Closes Coal Block Case Against Manmohan Singh

Published 30 July 2026 · india

‘Irony Just Died Again’: Shashi Tharoor After SC Closes Coal Block Case Against Manmohan Singh Published By, Last Updated: July 30, 2026, 15:12 IST Calling

‘Irony Just Died Again’: Shashi Tharoor After SC Closes Coal Block Case Against Manmohan Singh Published By, Last Updated: July 30, 2026, 15:12 IST Calling Manmohan Singh the 'cleanest man in Indian politics', the Congress MP said the former prime minister never needed a Supreme Court certificate of his integrity. Rapid Read Congress leader Shashi Tharoor (File pic/PTI) Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Thursday reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision to close the Talabira-II coal block allocation case against former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, saying the late Congress leader never needed a judicial certificate of his integrity. Sharing a photograph of a newspaper report on X, Tharoor wrote: “Irony just died again. The cleanest man in Indian politics did not need an SC certificate of his integrity. Instead it is those who sought to implicate him in these charges who ought to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves." Irony just died again. The cleanest man in Indian politics did not need an SC certificate of his integrity.

Instead it is those who sought to implicate him in these charges who ought to be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. pic.twitter.com/dVrhtSFG0i— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 30, 2026 The Supreme Court’s ruling came nearly two years after Singh’s death and brought an end to an 11-year legal battle arising from the allocation of the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha. Supreme Court Quashes 2015 Summoning Order A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant set aside the March 11, 2015, order of a Special CBI Court that had summoned Singh and five others to face trial. The apex court accepted two closure reports filed by the CBI, both of which had concluded that there was insufficient evidence to establish a criminal case against the accused. It held that the Special Judge had not provided valid grounds for rejecting the investigating agency’s findings and proceeding against Singh and the other accused. The Supreme Court consequently quashed the trial court’s summoning order and formally closed the proceedings after considering the case on its merits.

What Was The Talabira-II Case? The case related to the allocation of the Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005, when Singh was also holding charge of the Coal Ministry. Despite the CBI concluding after its investigation that there was not enough evidence to prosecute him, the Special CBI Court declined to accept its closure reports. It instead summoned Singh and five others to face charges that included criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust. The Supreme Court stayed the proceedings on April 1, 2015, just weeks after the Special Court issued its order. The stay remained in force while the legality of the summons was examined. Case Had Cast A Shadow Over UPA Years The wider coal block allocation controversy had emerged as a major political issue during the UPA government’s tenure and was frequently used by the Opposition to target the Manmohan Singh administration. While Singh’s personal integrity was often acknowledged even by his political rivals, the Talabira-II proceedings remained one of the criminal cases linked to the controversy that had not been formally concluded.