EOW gives clean chit to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, son in INS Vikrant fund misuse case

Mumbai: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police gave a clean chit to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil, in the alleged INS Vikrant funds misuse case.

The case involves allegations that the father-son duo misappropriated funds collected for the preservation of the decommissioned Indian naval ship. In 2013-14, the Somaiyas launched a fundraising campaign, “Save INS Vikrant,” and allegedly collected around ?57 crore from the public. However, there are claims that the funds were not deposited with the designated authorities or used for the intended purpose of preserving the ship.

After extensive investigation, the EOW filed a ‘C summary’ report in the court last month, stating that they did not find any evidence in the case against the father-son duo for misusing the funds. The ‘C summary’ report by EOW implies that the case is “neither true nor false,” reflecting a lack of conclusive evidence to establish any wrongdoing.

INS Vikrant, a Majestic-class aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, which was commissioned in 1961, had played a crucial role during the Indo-Pak war of 1971. Decommissioned in 1997, the ship was sold through an online auction in January 2014 and was scrapped in November of the same year.

Earlier in August, the police had also approached the Esplanade Metropolitan Magistrate Court, submitting that there was no evidence and sought to close the case, but the court had refused to close the case registered against Somaiya and his son Neil.

Additional chief judicial magistrate SP Shinde on August 8 had rejected the closure report filed by the Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police after noticing that while drives to collect funds were undertaken at various places, the investigating officer had only inquired into the drive outside Churchgate station and did not ascertain where the money went. The court ordered the officer to conduct further investigation.

The FIR against Kirit and Neil Somaiya was registered by the Trombay police in April 2022, during the term of the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

According to the complainant Baban Bhosle, a retired serviceman, the duo misappropriated ?57 crore collected from the public in the name of saving INS Vikrant, the Navy’s first aircraft carrier which was later dismantled. Bhosle himself had donated ?2,000 for the cause, he said in the complaint. He further stated that though the Somaiyas claimed the funds were deposited with the governor, the governor’s office said in response to a right-to-information application that it had not received any money from the BJP leader.

Somaiya, in his statement to the police, claimed they had collected only ?11,000 and handed it over to the governor.

The case was subsequently transferred to the EOW for investigation. In the closure report filed in December 2022, the EOW stated that during the investigation, they recorded statements of 38 witnesses who had contributed money for saving INS Vikrant during a drive conducted outside Churchgate railway station.

Over ?10,000 was collected during this drive that lasted for over an hour, the investigating officer found. He noted that it was not possible to collect ?57 crore, as alleged, in such a short time. He also noted that Somaiya had met the then-governor the very same day, apparently to hand over the collected money, though it was not known what transpired during their meeting. The officer, however, sought closure of the case, claiming there was no misappropriation of funds.

The metropolitan magistrate, however, noticed that some witnesses had claimed that fund collection drives were undertaken at several places including Churchgate. “Thus, from the statements recorded by the investigating officer, it appears that witnesses have contributed and the accused have collected an amount during the said drive. However, the investigating officer has not placed any document on record showing that said amount was deposited by the accused either with the office of the governor or with the government. Thus, in this matter, the investigating officer has not conducted an investigation as to what was done by the accused with the amount collected by them,” said the court.

“Further as per report, the accused have also conducted drives at some other places. But the investigating officer has not taken any pain to record statements of the witnesses from other places, who have also alleged to have made a contribution in the said drive,” it added.