The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and six others in connection with the alleged irregularities related to a Feedback Unit (FBU) floated in 2016. A wrongful loss of about ₹36 lakh to the exchequer has been alleged.
Mr. Sisodia has already been arrested by the CBI in the excise policy case and at present is in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Commenting on the development, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that it was sad for the country that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan is to “slap several false cases against Mr. Sisodia and keep him in custody for a long period.”
Also read: Home Ministry sanctions prosecution of Manish Sisodia in ‘collection of political intelligence’ case
Among the accused are Sukesh Kumar Jain, the then Secretary-Vigilance; retired Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Deputy Inspector-General Rakesh Kumar Sinha, who worked as Special Advisor to the CM and Joint-Director of the Unit; retired Intelligence Bureau official Pradeep Kumar Punj, who was its Deputy Director; retired CISF Assistant Commandant Satish Khetrapal, who was brought in as Feedback Officer; and Gopal Mohan, the then Advisor (Anti-Corruption) to the CM.
The case is the outcome of a CBI preliminary enquiry instituted on December 2, 2016, following a complaint lodged on the orders of the then Delhi Lieutenant-Governor (L-G). The agency said it found that the Unit’s creation was approved vide a Delhi Cabinet decision on September 29, 2015, on the basis of a ‘Tabled Item’ with the approval of the CM, as mentioned in the complaint.
The mandate of the Unit was to collect “relevant information and actionable feedback regarding the working of various departments, autonomous bodies, institutions, entities, etc., in the jurisdiction of Delhi government and to conduct trap cases”, the CBI alleged.
According to the First Information Report (FIR), the then Secretary-Vigilance submitted detailed proposal for setting up the FBU, which was cleared by the CM on October 28, 2015. As alleged, Mr. Jain did not refer the issue of creating 20 posts for the FBU to the Administrative Reforms Department for concurrence at any stage.
Mr. Sisodia allegedly approved the proposal in January 2016 that the positions in the FBU would be adjusted against 88 posts in the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB). The department had tentatively agreed for the creation of ACB posts, subject to a detailed work study. Besides, the proposal had not been sent for the L-G’s approval.
As alleged, the unit’s posts were not notified and no ‘Recruitment Rules’ for the same were framed. Yet, 17 posts were filled by appointing retired personnel on contract basis. An administrative approval for expenditure of over ₹20.59 lakh was also sought under ‘Other Charges’.
The unit started functioning from February 2016. A provision of ₹1 crore was made for the ‘Secret Service Expenditure’ fund for 2016-17, of which ₹10 lakh was disbursed to the unit in two instalments.
The CBI said its enquiry revealed that the vouchers raised in lieu of payments made to Silver Shield Detectives (₹1.50 lakh) and W.W. Security (₹60,000) were false. The owners of both the firms denied doing any work for the State government or the Unit.
The FBU, apart from collecting the mandated information, allegedly gathered political or “other intelligence”, which accounted for about 40% of the total reports generated by it. The FIR alleges that this activity was beyond the scope and ambit of its functions. Also, no formal action was taken against anyone based on vigilance-related reports, most of which were kept pending.
In view of certain alleged irregularities, in September 2016, the Deputy Secretary-Vigilance had requested that the Unit be closed down. Subsequently, the then Secretary-Vigilance Ashwani Kumar had also made the same observation.
BJP reacts
Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva welcomed the lodging of FIR against Mr. Sisodia and called it a “victory of the people of Delhi”.
“The BJP has been saying from the beginning that the Feedback Unit was used by Mr. Kejriwal only to eliminate his opponents, blackmail the judiciary, big corporate houses and media houses. Therefore the investigating agency should arrest Mr. Kejriwal who was the mastermind of this Unit. A case of sedition should also be registered against Mr. Kejriwal and his role inquired,” Mr. Sachdeva said.
