NEW DELHI: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has given permission to prosecute Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia under the Prevention of Corruption Act in the ‘alleged Feedback Unit’ snooping case. 

\The Ministry of Home Affairs authorised the CBI to pursue Sisodia in the alleged spying case in a communication dated February 17 to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor Secretariat. The plea for prosecution sanction from the CBI had been approved by Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, who then referred it to the MHA.

The AAP government secretly established the FBU, an Extra Constitutional-Extra Judicial Intelligence Agency, in 2015 under Sisodia's leadership of the Delhi government's Vigilance department. The FBU is accused of spying on various Ministries, Opposition political parties, entities, and individuals.

"This snooping team was purportedly administered and directed by the close advisors and aides of CM Arvind Kejriwal, who reported directly to him, without any parliamentary or judicial scrutiny. According to the sources, the investigation also involves unauthorised or unreported expenditures made on Secret Service Funds designated for the FBU.

Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena had referred the case to the President of India for the prosecution sanction against Manish Sisodia through the Ministry of Home Affairs following the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) report to the vigilance department against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in connection with the "Feedback unit" case.
The Anti Corruption Branch had been granted the investigation by the Vigilance department in March 2017. (ACB). The LG office then tagged it for the CBI.

The initial investigation on the aforementioned matter was finished in 2021. In 2021, the CBI sent letters to the LG and MHA requesting a penalty under section 17 A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) administration purportedly established a Feedback Unit in 2015. The objective was to bolster the oversight system and receive comments on how various government agencies, independent bodies, or institutions were operating.

The FBU, as it was known in official communications, also gathered political intelligence related to the political activities of individuals, political entities, and political issues touching the political interest of AAP. This information was gathered in 2016, following the complaint of an officer of the Directorate of Vigilance, Delhi government.

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