Prosecution sanction against Sisodia in 'political intelligence' case

NEW DELHI: Ministry of Home Affairs has given sanction to prosecute Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly using the 'Feedback Unit' (FBU) for political snooping.
LG VK Saxena had approved the CBI's request for prosecution sanction and forwarded the same to the MHA. The CBI had sought sanction to register FIR against Sisodia, who heads Delhi government's directorate of vigilance under which the FBU was created and allegedly used for collecting intelligence related to “political activities of persons, political entities and political issues touching the political interest of AAP”.
Sisodia in his reaction said "filing false cases against one's rival is the sign of weak person. The more AAP will grow, the more cases will be filed against its leaders"
The AAP government had appointed retired officers who reported directly to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. As per the preliminary enquiry conducted by the CBI, the FBU conducted over 700 investigations during a short period of about eight months and 60 per cent of them were related to political matters.
The CBI, on January 12, 2023, submitted its PE report to the vigilance department seeking approval of the competent authority, in this case lieutenant governor VK Saxena, to register a case under Prevention of Corruption Act and various sections of Indian Penal Code against deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, who headed the vigilance department, for creation and functioning of the feedback unit.
The prosecution sanction against Sisodia has come at a time when the CBI, which is also investigating alleged irregularities and corruption in formulation and implementation of Delhi government's excise policy of 2021, has called the deputy CM for questioning on February 26.
The CBI had also sought approval to register a case against the then vigilance secretary, Sukesh Kumar Jain, FBU’s joint director and special advisor to CM, Rakesh Kumar Sinha, two senior officers of FBU, Pradeep Kumar Punj and Satish Khetarpal, and Gopal Mohan, who works as advisor, anti-corruption, to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.