On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court extended the interim protection from arrest to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil Somaiya till July 7 in connection with a cheating case alleging swindling of funds collected for the restoration of INS Vikrant, the Indian Navy's first aircraft carrier.
A single-judge bench consisting Justice Bharati H Dangre also extended time to Mumbai Police in order to file its affidavit in response to Somaiya's plea.
For the unversed, the HC had earlier granted interim protection from arrest to the father-son duo till Tuesday. The court had asked them to cooperate with the investigation while also seeking the investigation progress report from the Mumbai police.
A complaint of cheating was filed by a former Indian Army man at the Trombay police station alleging that a donation drive was started by Kirit in 2013 in order to prevent INS Vikrant from being decommissioned and scrapped.
In his complaint, the army man alleged that Kirit and his son, including other people had collected funds by setting up donation boxes in the city, where he had contributed Rs 2,000. In 2014, the man learned that the warship was auctioned to a company for Rs 60 crore.
The complaint says Somaiya at the time had tweeted informing that he wrote to the governor in 2013 regarding the contributions the locals were ready to make. The complainant alleged that responding to the BJP leader's tweet, the governor's office denied receiving any money from the leader in 2013-14.
