Centre allows CBI to prosecute Manish Sisodia for allegedly snooping on rivals

The Union Home Ministry has allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in a case of alleged collection of ''political intelligence'' through a feedback unit (FBU) set up to check corruption.

In this regard, the Home Ministry has sent a communication to the principal secretary to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor wherein it said, ''The sanction to prosecute Sisodia was granted under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988''.

The development came after the investigative agency had said it found in its preliminary inquiry that the FBU set up by the Delhi government to check corruption allegedly collected ''political intelligence'' and the agency recommended that an FIR be registered against Sisodia.

It is worth mentioning that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dispensation had proposed setting up the FBU in 2015 to gather relevant information and actionable feedback regarding the working of the various departments and autonomous bodies, institutions, and entities falling under the jurisdiction of the government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) and also to do ''trap cases''.

''The unit started functioning in 2016 with a provision of Rs 1 crore for secret service expenditure,'' the CBI said.

The CBI also alleged that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal moved the proposal in a Cabinet meeting in 2015, but no agenda note was circulated as well as no sanction from the Lieutenant Governor was taken for appointments in the FBU.

"The Feedback Unit, in addition to collecting the mandated information, also collected political intelligence/intelligence qua miscellaneous issues," the CBI claimed in its preliminary inquiry report.

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