Vikrant fund case: HC grants interim safety from arrest to BJP chief Kirit Somaiya

By PTI

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted interim safety from arrest to BJP chief Kirit Somaiya in a case of alleged misappropriation of funds collected within the title of saving the decommissioned naval plane service Vikrant.

A single bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudessai stated within the occasion of arrest within the case, Somaiya be launched on a private bond of Rs 50,000.

Justice Prabhudessai additionally directed Somaiya to cooperate with the police’s probe into the case and requested him to “report to the investigation officer in the case for four days, beginning from April 18, between 11 am and 2 pm.”

The HC will hear Somaiya’s pre-arrest bail plea additional after two weeks on April 28. An FIR was registered towards the previous MP and his son Neil Somaiya on April 6 at Trombay police station right here following a criticism by an ex-Army individual, who claimed that Kirit Somaiya had collected Rs 57 crore from the general public in 2013 for the restoration of Vikrant.

The cash was, nevertheless, by no means put to make use of or deposited with the governor’s workplace, as per the preliminary plan, the criticism said.

On Wednesday, advocate Ashok Mundargi, who appeared for Kirit Somaiya, instructed the HC that this was a “highly politicised matter”.

He stated that as a part of a number of campaigns held earlier for the decommissioned naval plane service, Somaiya had led a set on the Churchgate station in Mumbai.

Mundargi stated, “Rs 11,224 was collected in December 2013 at a programme at Churchgate. In 2014, the state government, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation backed out (of the initiative to restore the warship) and Vikrant was scrapped.”

“No one knows where this figure of Rs 57 crore came from,” he stated. When the court docket requested if Somaiya knew what occurred to Rs 11,000 collected at Churchgate, Mundargi stated he was undecided.

“The governor didn’t respond to our letter on this amount collected by us. The money must be lying with some party worker or deposited somewhere,” Mundargi stated.

Senior advocate Shirish Gupte, who appeared for police, instructed the HC that the probe into the case was nonetheless on and the police wanted to interrogate each Kirit Somaiya and the complainant.

“We need some time and we need his (Kirit Somaiya’s) custody. His (Somaiya’s) whereabouts are not known. We couldn’t trace him. The 41-A CrPC notice (asking him to report for questioning) had to be pasted at his residence, we couldn’t serve it,” Gupte stated.

Mundargi, nevertheless, instructed the HC that the BJP chief was prepared to cooperate with the police probe.

He stated Kirit Somaiya had left Mumbai as a result of he was apprehending that he shall be arrested with out being given an opportunity to strategy the court docket.

While granting aid to the BJP chief, the HC took notice of the truth that the allegations made within the FIR have been “vague” and primarily based primarily on information experiences.

“Prima facie, apart from the complaint that is so vague and based solely on media reports, there is no basis for the complaint. Unfortunately, from 2013 to 2022, nothing is done, no complaint lodged,” the excessive court docket famous.

“In the light of the above, this is a fit case for grant of interim relief,” the HC stated.

Commissioned in 1961, INS Vikrant, a Majestic-class plane service of the Indian Navy, had performed a key function in implementing the naval blockade of East Pakistan throughout the Indo-Pakistan struggle of 1971.

It was decommissioned in 1997. In January 2014, the ship was bought by means of an internet public sale and scrapped in November that yr.