The Union Home Ministry has given the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) permission to prosecute Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with allegations of “snooping on political opponents through a specially designed feedback unit (FBU)“.
The sanction to prosecute the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader has been granted under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a letter dated February 17 to the Principal Secretary to Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
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Mr. Sisodia said that he expected more cases to be filed against the AAP’s leaders, given the party’s growth. “To file false cases on your opponents is a sign of a weak and cowardly person. As the Aam Aadmi Party grows, more cases will be filed against us,” he tweeted.
‘Political intelligence collection’
Earlier this month, the L-G had approved a CBI proposal and recommended it to the MHA, to register a case against the Deputy CM for the creation and functioning of a ‘feedback unit’ set up under the Vigilance Department, which allegedly started functioning from 2016.
According to the CBI’s preliminary inquiry into the matter on a 2016 complaint from an official of the Delhi Directorate of Vigilance, the FBU indulged in collecting political intelligence and snooping.
‘Arrest Sisodia, probe CM’
Welcoming the Home Ministry’s approval, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) working president Virendra Sachdeva demanded that the CBI file a case under serious sections and arrest Mr. Sisodia soon.
“Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is clearly involved in this whole matter of the FBU. Instead of presenting the related agenda in the cabinet, all the reports of this espionage were given to Kejriwal only,” he said, demanding that the CM’s involvement be investigated.
Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana alleged that “crores of rupees have been transferred to the FBU in the name of Secret Service Fund”, recommending that the agency also investigate this expenditure.
The unit started functioning in 2016 with a provision of ₹1 crore for secret service expenditure, it said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation alleged that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal moved the proposal in a Cabinet meeting in 2015, but no agenda note was circulated. No sanction from the Lt. Governor was taken for appointments in the FBU, it claimed.
"The Feedback Unit, in addition to collecting the mandated information, also collected political intelligence/intelligence qua miscellaneous issues," the CBI said in its preliminary inquiry report.
The CBI registered the preliminary inquiry on a reference from the Delhi government's vigilance department, which had allegedly detected irregularities in the FBU.
