CBI registers FIR against Sisodia in 'snooping case'

New Delhi: Delhi's jailed former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has been booked by the CBI in a new case related to alleged misuse of official position and financial impropriety in the government's Feedback Unit (FBU) which was also used for "political snooping", officials said Thursday.

Already arrested by the CBI in the excise policy case and at present in the custody of the Enforcement Directorate, the woes of 51-year-old Sisodia aggravated after the agency registered a fresh case against him and five others on Tuesday for alleged criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, forgery and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said.

The agency booked Sisodia, a 1992-batch IRS officer Sukesh Kumar Jain who was then secretary of vigilance, retired CISF DIG Rakesh Kumar Sinha who was working as special advisor to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and joint director in the Feedback Unit, they said.

Besides, former joint deputy director of Intelligence Bureau Pradeep Kumar Punj, who was working as deputy director of the Feedback Unit, retired assistant commandant of CISF Satish Khetrapal who was working as feedback officer, and Gopal Mohan, advisor, anti-corruption, to Kejriwal were also booked in the case, officials said. The agency has invoked IPC sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 468 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 477A (falsification of accounts) besides provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against those named in the FIR. Reacting to the development, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, "PM's plan is to slap several false cases against Manish and keep him in custody for a long period.

Sad for the country!" The case relates to FBU set by the Aam Aadmi Party to gather relevant information and actionable feedback regarding the working of various bodies under the jurisdiction of the Delhi government and to do "trap cases" as an ears-to-ground agency to check corruption, the FIR alleged. The CBI action is an outcome of a preliminary enquiry which had "prima facie disclosed the offences" against the named accused.

The preliminary enquiry was conducted by the agency on a reference from the Vigilance Department of the Delhi Government on November 4, 2016. The preliminary enquiry, first step by the agency to detect prima facie criminality in the allegations, showed irregularities in the appointments made in the unit, financial misappropriation and violation at various levels. The enquiry report which is now part of the 11-page FIR has alleged that posts for retired employees in the unit were created without concurrence from the Administrative Reforms Department and the lieutenant governor who is the competent authority. The CBI, in its preliminary enquiry report, has alleged that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal moved the proposal in a Cabinet meeting in 2015, regarding setting up the unit but no agenda note was circulated. The government created 20 posts for the FBU to be adjusted in 88 posts created in Anti-Corruption Branch on an order from Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.