The Delhi unit of BJP staged a protest near the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headquarters on DDU Marg amidst heavy security, demanding the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in a "snooping case" involving the Feedback Unit (FBU) of the Arvind Kejriwal government.
Delhi Police detained Manoj Tiwari and Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva who were protesting along with other BJP workers. They alleged that the creation of the FBU “endangered" national security. The Centre has cleared the way for registration of a case against Sisodia by giving sanction for prosecution to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over the alleged illegal collection of "political intelligence" through a Delhi government department.
What is the "snooping case"?
The CBI had earlier 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.
According to the CBI, the 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, it said. The CBI 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 Union Home Ministry yesterday, granted the prosecution sanction to the CBI against Sisodia in the case. In a communication to the principal secretary to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, the home ministry said the sanction to prosecute Sisodia was granted under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Sisodia while reacting to the development hit out at the Centre, describing prosecution sanction against him as a "cowardly" act. He is already facing a CBI case for alleged favours extended to liquor traders in the formulation of the now-scrapped Delhi Excise policy of 2021-22. He is to appear before the probe agency in this case on February 26.
(With PTI inputs)
