INS Vikrant: BJP leader Kirit Somaiya quizzed for 3 hours in cheating case

Kirit Somaiya. File Pic

The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police quizzed BJP leader Kirit Somaiya for almost three hours in connection with the INS Vikrant funds misappropriation case, an official said. Somaiya reached the Police Commissioner's office in south Mumbai at 11 am.

He left the commissioner's office shortly after 2 pm during which the EOW recorded his statement. The official said that the EOW may call Somaiya again for questioning. Somaiya had denied the allegations of misappropriating the money raised to save the decommissioned aircraft carrier from being scrapped in 2014.

Earlier, the EOW had issued summons to Somaiya and his son Neil Somaiya, a day after the Somaiya senior's pre-arrest bail plea was rejected by the Mumbai sessions court on April 11.

Based on a complaint lodged by an ex-serviceman, the Trombay police on April 7 registered an FIR against the Somaiyas for allegedly misappropriating about Rs 57 crore collected through crowdfunding to save decommissioned INS Vikrant from being scrapped and converted into a museum. The Bombay High Court on April 13 granted interim protection from arrest to Kirit Somaiya. A single bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudessai had directed Kirit Somaiya to cooperate with the police's probe into the case and asked him to "report to the investigation officer in the case for four days, beginning from April 18, between 11 am and 2 pm."

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