Manish Sisodia, a former deputy chief minister of Delhi, and five other individuals were named in a FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday. The 'Feedback Unit' is accused of monitoring opposition parties, government employees, etc.
On February 22, the Center authorized the central agency to bring charges against the Aam Aadmi Party leader for allegedly gathering “political intelligence” via a department of the Delhi government.
In order to gather pertinent data and useful input about the operation of the many departments and autonomous bodies, institutions, and entities coming under the purview of the Delhi government, the Aam Aadmi Party administration suggested creating the “Feedback Unit” in 2015.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, is accused by the CBI of moving the motion at the cabinet meeting despite the absence of an agenda paper. It claimed that the appointments in this unit were made without the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi's approval.
The CBI said in its preliminary probe report that the Feedback Unit also gathered political intelligence and intelligence about other matters in addition to the information that was required to be collected.
The CBI claimed that using FBU to this extent for the purpose of gathering political intelligence for the AAP or for its convenor Arvind Kejriwal “can reasonably be interpreted to mean and constitute the obtaining of valuable things or pecuniary advantage,” as doing so would have required spending money.
For Sisodia, who is now in the care of the Enforcement Directorate on suspicion of money laundering in the Delhi Excise Policy case, the FIR portends further difficulties. He was taken into jail by the courts after being detained by the CBI for suspected irregularities in the creation and application of the excise policy. The ED extensively questioned the Aam Aadmi Party before arresting him on March 9.
