BJP leader Kirit Somaiya
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil have been booked for allegedly embezzling a crowd-funded Rs 57 crore to “save” the country’s first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.
A case has been registered against Somaiya and his son under sections 420 (cheating and dishonesty including delivery of property) and 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC. The case was registered on the basis of a complaint by a former army officer.
According to the FIR, which was lodged in the early hours today, Somaiya collected donations to rescue INS Vikrant, but did not deposit it at the Maharashtra Raj Bhavan.
It may be recalled that after INS Vikrant was decommissioned in 1997, it was preserved as a museum till 2012. Somaiya, a former BJP MP from Mumbai North-East at the time, had offered to help through a series of fundraisers and crowdfunding. -Funding drive.
On Wednesday, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut accused Somaiya of misappropriating money.