Filing bogus cases against rivals sign of cowardice: Sisodia on snoopgate

New Delhi: Filing bogus cases against rivals is a sign of cowardice, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Wednesday after the Ministry of Home Affairs granted the CBI sanction to prosecute him in a case of alleged collection of "political intelligence".

In a communication to the principal secretary to the Delhi lieutenant governor, the Union home ministry said sanction to prosecute Sisodia was granted under Section 17 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

"Filing bogus cases against one's rivals is a sign of a weak and cowardly person. The more AAP will grow, the more the number of cases that will be filed against us," Sisodia said in a tweet in Hindi.

Early this month, the CBI said it found in its preliminary inquiry that the feedback unit (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.

The FBU started functioning in 2016 with a provision of Rs 1 crore for secret service expenditure, the CBI said.

The Aam Aadmi Party dispensation had proposed setting up the FBU in 2015 to gather relevant information and actionable feedback regarding the working of various departments, 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", it said.