(Image source from: Parakh calls Manmohan Singh conspirator)

After CBI  booked former Coal Secretary P C Parakh on charges of conspiracy and corruption in coal blocks allocation,  the flabbergasted bureaucrat asserted that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should be booked as the "conspirator" as it was him who made the final call on it.

Yesterday, CBI booked Parakh alongwith industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla for "irregularities in the allocation of two coal blocks in Odisha eight years back."

“After registering the fresh FIR with a CBI court here, agency teams carried out coordinated searches at nearly six locations in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhubaneshwar which included offices of Hindalco and residence of Parekh in Secunderabad, and Hyderabad,” PTI wrote.

Dubbing the allegation against him as baseless, Parakh said he saw nothing wrong in the government decision.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the decision. It was a very fair and correct decision that we took. I don't know why CBI thought that there is a conspiracy," Parakh said.

"But, if there is a conspiracy, then there are different members in this conspiracy. There is K M Birla who made the representation, he is one conspirator. I, who examined the case and made a recommendation, I can be another conspirator and the Prime Minister, who as the Coal Minister, took the final decision, is the third conspirator.

"So, if the CBI thinks there is a conspiracy, why did they choose and select Mr.Birla and me and not the PM.If conspiracy is there, then everyone is part of the conspiracy," he told television channels, adding that after Shibu Soren resigned as Coal Minister, the Prime Minister had then directly taken charge of the ministry.

Parakh's statement "merits serious consideration," BJP deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

AW: Suchorita Dutta Choudhury