  We prove that coherent perfect absorption (CPA) without lasing is {\bf not}
possible in the PT-symmetric domain as the s-matrix is such that $|\det S(\pm
k)|=1$. We study coherent scattering from three complex potentials, one solved
analytically and the other two numerically. We conjecture that in the domain of
unbroken symmetry (when the potential has real discrete spectrum) neither
spectral singularity nor CPA can occur. We show that Scarf II potential is a
special model that can analytically and explicitly exhibit these as well as
other novel phenomena and their subtleties. \pacs{03.65-w, 03.65.Nk, 11.30.Er,
42.25.Bs, 42.79.Gn
