Case Filed Against BJP Leader Kirit Somaiya For Siphoning Off Funds Collected For INS Vikrant 

The case regarding alleged misappropriation of over Rs 57 crore collected to save aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was registered at the Trombay police station.

BJP Leader Kirit Somaiya (Getty Image)

New Delhi: Mumbai police Thursday lodged a case of cheating against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil for financial bungling, reported news agency ANI. 

The case regarding alleged misappropriation of over Rs 57 crore collected to save aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was registered at the Trombay police station in suburban Mankhurdon on the complaint of a former soldier Baban Bhosle.

"A case has been registered against Kirit Somaiya and Neil Somaiya under Sections 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (Punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the Trombay Police station in Mumbai for INS Vikrant financial bungling," said Senior Police Inspector Rehana Sheikh, as reported by ANI.

Bhosle alleged that Kirit Somaiya and his party BJP had started a campaign to raise funds for INS Vikrant but Somaiya after collecting a sum of Rs 57 crore for the purpose did not deposit the amount to the Maharashtra governor's office, he instead used the fund for his own business.

"In 2013-14, BJP had launched a campaign to save INS Vikrant and collected money from people, which as per information from the Raj Bhawan no such money was received. It is found that Somaiya used the money for his business," said Bhosle in a statement, as reported by ANI.

INS Vikrant had played a key role in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. The aircraft carrier was decommissioned in 1997, and in January 2014, the ship was sold through an online auction and scrapped in November the same year.