A day after Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut alleged that BJP leader Kirit Somaiya had siphoned off Rs 57 crore on the pretext of crowdfunding in 2013-14 to preserve India’s first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant, after its decommissioning by the Indian Navy, Trombay Police have registered an offence against Somaiya and his son Neil for cheating.
According to police, a former Armyman approached them and registered a complaint, on the basis of which a First Information Report (FIR) was registered. Somaiya and his son have been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust (406) and cheating (420) and common intention (34).
A senior police officer said that the complainant, Baban Bhosale, an ex-Armyman, had contributed Rs 2,000 from his hard-earned money in a bid to save the INS Vikrant. But when he filed a Right To Information (RTI) query to ascertain where the funds went if they did not go towards saving the decommissioned aircraft, he learnt that no such funds had been sent to the Raj Bhavan, and this set the alarm bells ringing. Furious, the former Armyman then lodged a complaint, acting on which a case was registered.
In his complaint, Bhosale has accused Kirit Somaiya, Neil Somaiya and others of misappropriation of funds collected from various areas of the city like Churchgate, Bhandup, Mulund, Andheri and Bandra among others, which were allegedly never used for the purpose they were collected.
The action comes on the heels of Raut’s interaction with the media in Delhi, where he had said that a campaign led by Kirit Somaiya in 2013-14 collected Rs 57 crore from the public to turn the INS Vikrant into a museum instead of being scrapped, but the funds which were to be deposited, never made it to the Raj Bhavan, was the response to an RTI query.
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