INS Vikrant case: Mumbai court rejects pre-arrest bail plea of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya

Kirit Somaiya. File Pic

A court rejected the anticipatory bail application of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya in a case pertaining to alleged misappropriation of over Rs 57 crore funds collected to save aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. Kirit Somaiya, a former MP from Mumbai, and his son Neil have been booked in the case.

Fearing arrest in the case, the duo had sought anticipatory bail from additional sessions judge R N Rokade. The judge, while refusing pre-arrest bail to Kirit Somaiya, said there were pictures to show he collected money in the name of saving the decommissioned aircraft carrier from getting dismantled, but the same was not deposited with the state governor's office.

The court will give its ruling on Neil Somaiya's anticipatory bail application on Tuesday. The case against the father-son duo has been filed based on a complaint lodged by a 53-year-old former Army man at the Trombay police station in suburban Mankhurd.

Commissioned in 1961, INS Vikrant, a Majestic-class aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, had played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the Indo-Pak War of 1971. It was decommissioned in 1997. In January 2014, the ship was sold through an online auction and scrapped in November that year.
The complainant said that Kirit Somaiya had started a campaign to raise funds for INS Vikrant. He had said he had given donations to the former Lok Sabha MP for saving the warship and the BJP leader had collected more than Rs 57 crore for the purpose.

However, instead of depositing the amount to the Maharashtra governor's secretary's office, he misappropriated the funds, the complainant alleged.
Kirit Somaiya has rejected the allegation.

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