INS Vikrant case: Clean chit for BJP leader Kirit Somaiya

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police has filed a closure report, known as a C summary (indicating that the case is neither true nor false), regarding former BJP Member of Parliament Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil Somaiya in connection with the Rs 57 crore INS Vikrant fraud case. Somaiya is alleged to have collected donations from the public for the preservation of the decommissioned aircraft carrier but failed to transfer the funds to the Maharashtra government or the governor.

Earlier this year, the EOW submitted an initial closure report exonerating Somaiya and his son. However, the Mumbai court rejected this report and ordered a further investigation to trace the money trail, as witnesses claimed to have donated funds to Somaiya and felt that the police had not sufficiently pursued the financial trail. Following additional inquiries, the EOW has now filed a second closure report with the court.

Neil Somaiya. Pic/X @neilsomaiya; (right) his father Kirit Somaiya. File pic

In its second closure report, the EOW stated that it found no evidence of a R57 crore money trail as alleged in the FIR. However, it did trace a smaller sum of R12,881, which Kirit Somaiya reportedly collected during a donation drive held near Churchgate railway station on December 10, 2013. According to the report, after this event, Somaiya met with the late former governor of Maharashtra, K Sankaranarayanan, and handed over the collected amount. Somaiya also tweeted about this handover on the same day.

The EOW report includes statements from Raj Bhavan officials who confirmed that the meeting took place, but they noted that no record exists of the exact amount Somaiya handed over. Since the former governor has passed away, verifying the details has proven challenging. Consequently, the EOW submitted the C summary report, indicating that Somaiya only raised Rs 12,881 during the Churchgate campaign in a span of 40-50 minutes, making it implausible that he could have collected Rs 57 crore as claimed in the FIR.

The EOW report also clarifies that no witnesses have claimed Somaiya collected Rs 57 crore. "Given the small amount collected, the governor may not have formally recorded it or forgot to inform his office, as no one else was present during the meeting. This lack of documentation, compounded by the governor's passing, has made it difficult to verify the full details, leading the EOW to submit the C summary report to the court," an EOW officer said.

The report further notes that, in addition to Churchgate, Somaiya allegedly organised donation drives at Bandra, Andheri, Mulund, and Bhandup. However, the EOW found no evidence of these events during its investigation. They contacted local police stations in these areas to verify if any such campaigns had been registered, but the stations reported having no record of such activities.

The EOW also stated that the Churchgate donation campaign led by Somaiya aimed to communicate public sentiment regarding INS Vikrant to the government and had no intention of defrauding the public. The report additionally mentions that some witnesses in the case are affiliated with Shiv Sena unions, raising questions about the credibility of their statements.

INS Vikrant, a majestic-class aircraft carrier commissioned in 1961, played a crucial role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. It was decommissioned in 1997, sold through an online auction in January 2014, and scrapped later that year.

The case against the Somaiyas was filed at Trombay police station in April 2022, based on a complaint from an ex-serviceman who claimed to have donated R2,000 to the 2013 campaign.

Rs 57cr
Value of the alleged fraud