The FIR was filed on March 14 after CBI received sanction from the home ministry and LG to proceed against the accused. “FBU was misused by public servants concerned for purpose other than the one for which it was manifestly created. Funds were allotted illegally and enhanced without any relevant job accomplished,” the agency claims.
CBI files corruption case against Manish Sisodia in feedback unit case
While Sisodia is in judicial custody and will likely be questioned in jail itself, the agency will soon ask other accused to join investigation.
The preliminary enquiry, on the basis of which the FIR has been lodged, revealed that the creation of the FBU was approved vide a cabinet decision on September 29, 2015, which was taken on the basis of a “tabled item with the approval of the chief minister of Delhi”, the FIR states.
The FBU, the CBI claims, started functioning from February 2016 but no approval of the competent authority, i.e. the Delhi LG, was taken for appointment of retired personnel.
Besides Sisodia and Jain, the FIR names retired CISF DIG Rakesh Sinha, who was working as a special adviser to CM Arvind Kejriwal and joint director of FBU. It also names former joint deputy director of Intelligence Bureau and deputy director (FBU) Pradeep Kumar Punj, retired assistant commandant of CISF and (FBU) officer Satish Khetrapal, and Gopal Mohan, adviser, anti-corruption, to Kejriwal.
Apart from sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the agency has invoked IPC sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy, falsification of accounts, criminal misconduct by a public servant and forgery etc against the accused.
As per the FIR, after the cabinet’s decision to create FBU, the secretary (vigilance) was directed to submit a detailed proposal for setting up the unit. The mandate of the FBU was to collect relevant information and actionable feedback regarding the working of various departments/autonomous bodies/institutions/entities etc in the jurisdiction of GNCTD and to conduct trap cases.
“The posts being created for the FBU were proposed to be initially manned by serving as well as retired personnel. The vigilance secretary submitted a detailed proposal for setting up the FBU, which was approved by the chief minister on October 28, 2015. As per approval of chief minister, the FBU was to report to secretary (vigilance),” the FIR states.
