Mumbai: The Metropolitan Magistrate court ordered the Mumbai police to reinvestigate the charges against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya, booked for alleged misappropriation of ₹57 crores collected through crowdfunding to save decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Vikrant from being scrapped in the year 2013-14.
Mumbai Police Files A Closure Report In The Case
Mumbai police had recently filed a closure report in the case in the complaint filed by an ex-serviceman for alleged misappropriation of over ₹57 crore from funds collected to save INS Vikrant from being scrapped and converted into a museum. The court has rejected the closure report directing the police to further investigate the case so as to how were the funds utilised.
It is alleged that Somaiya and his son Neil had collected more than Rs 57 crore for saving the ship. However, instead of depositing the amount to the Maharashtra governor’s secretary's office, he misappropriated the funds. The case was later transferred to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Mumbai police.
The two were granted anticipatory bail by the Bombay High court last year. After the probe, the investigating officer (EOW) of the case had submitted ‘C’ summary before the court, saying that after conducting a probe it came to light that the crime comes under the category of neither true nor false.
Observation Made By The Court
The court noted that during the probe investigating officer, recorded statements of about 38 witnesses who had made contributions to save INS Vikrant. He further submits that as per statements of witnesses, during a drive initiated by the accused outside Churchgate Railway station, they have collected a contribution of around Rs.10,000 and some odd amount.
The officer had recorded the statement of witness Kiran Paigankar, who had submitted that the accused had organized the drive ‘Save Vikrant’ as a mark just to bring awareness to the public at large about warship INS Vikrant. He further submits that the drive was conducted at Churchgate only and not at other places. The drive was conducted for about one hour only.
As per the statement of the informant, he has contributed an amount of Rs 2,000 in the said drive organized by the accused and others to save INS Vikrant. From the statements of other witnesses, it appears that they have also made contribution in the said drive led by the accused and others. Thus, as per the conclusion drawn by the Investigating officer, the accused has collected the amount in the said drive.
As such, the investigating officer submitted that "it is not possible to collect Rs.57 Crores in such a short span of time. He further submits that on the same day evening accused went to meet the Governor of Maharashtra. But as the then Governor of Maharashtra is no more, the record as to what had happened in said meeting is not available and could not be confirmed. lastly, he submits that the accused has not misappropriated any amount. As such, he prayed to accept ‘C’ summary," the court noted.
After referring to the submissions made by the officer and also the report the court observed that, "Thus, from the aforesaid statements recorded by the Investigating officer it appears that witnesses have contributed and accused have collected amount during the said drive. However, the Investigating officer has not placed any document on record showing that said amount was deposited by the accused either with the office of the Governor of Maharashtra or with the Government. Thus in this matter, the investigating officer has not done an investigation as to what has been done by the accused with the amount collected by them," the court observed.
