MHA nod to CBI to register case against Sisodia

NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry has given its go-ahead to CBI to register a regular case against Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and probe his alleged role in creating a ‘feedback unit’ in 2015, purportedly to gather actionable feedback on the working of various departments and institutions under the Delhi government, but which allegedly deviated from its mandate to collect “political intelligence”.
The feedback unit (FBU) worked under the vigilance department which was headed by Sisodia at the time.
Sisodia is already facing a CBI probe relating to alleged favours extended to liquor traders in the formulation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise Policy of 2021-22. He is slated to appear before CBI in that case on February 26.

The home ministry, in a letter sent to the Delhi LG’s office on February 17, stated: “In the context of a letter received from the directorate of vigilance of Government of NCT of Delhi on 02.02.2023, I am directed to inform that the competent officer has granted approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, to the registration of a regular case against Manish Sisodia and its investigation by CBI. Accordingly, further action may be taken.”
The LG had, in a note prepared while clearing CBI probe against some officers in the FBU case, stated that “there seems to be 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”.
The AAP government had, within months of securing a massive mandate in the 2015 assembly polls, allegedly created a feedback unit (FBU) to strengthen the vigilance establishment and gather “relevant and actionable feedback” on the working of various “departments, autonomous bodies, institutions and entities” falling under its jurisdiction and also to execute “trap cases”.
However, a preliminary enquiry (PE) conducted by CBI on a complaint of an officer of the directorate of vigilance of the Delhi government in 2016 found that the FBU also collected political intelligence related to “political activities of persons, political entities and political issues touching the interests of AAP”.

There is no clarity on whether the FBU still exists or was eventually disbanded, but CBI in its PE report stated that FBU probed over 700 cases during the eight months of its “active existence”. Of these, nearly 60% of cases were related to political intelligence and issues unrelated to vigilance matters, according to the report.
The PE report was submitted by CBI to the Delhi government’s vigilance department on January 12, seeking approval of the competent authority to register a case against Sisodia under the Prevention of Corruption Act and various sections of IPC.
Watch Manish Sisodia to be prosecuted in snooping case, MHA gives nod.