MHA gives sanction to prosecute Sisodia for snooping
22 Feb 2023 11:15:35
New Delhi, Feb 22: The Ministry of Home Affairs gave its sanction to prosecute Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia under the Prevention of Corruption Act in the Feedback Unit (FBU) snooping case. Delhi's Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena approved the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) request for the sanction to prosecute and forwarded it to the MHA.
The CBI had sought sanctions to register an FIR against Sisodia, who heads the Vigilance department of the Delhi government. The Feedback Unit was created under this department in 2015 after the AAP came to power in Delhi.
Weeks earlier, a political war erupted after a CBI report claimed that the FBU was involved in political snooping. The central agency said AAP proposed to set up the FBU to gather relevant information and feedback regarding the working of the various departments and autonomous bodies and institutions falling under the jurisdiction of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD). The unit started functioning in 2016 with a provision of Rs 1 crore for secret service expenditure, it said. It 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 L-G was taken for appointments to the FBU, said the CBI. Delhi L-G VK Saxena, while approving the CBI's request, said the AAP government made a "well-conceived attempt to establish an extraneous and parallel covert agency with overarching powers of snooping and trespass, without any legislative, judicial or executive oversight whatsoever".
This comes even as the Delhi government's now-withdrawn excise policy faces a probe by the CBI and the Enforcement District (ED) with Manish Sisodia as one of the main accused.