The Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing has filed another closure report in a case against former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirit Somaiya and his son Neil for allegedly misappropriating Rs 57 crore meant for refurbishing Indian Naval Ship Vikrant, The Times of India reported on Monday.
This came nearly three months after the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate SP Shinde of the Esplanade Metropolitan Magistrate Court rejected a closure report filed in the case.
The court observed that while drives to collect the funds for refurbishing the ship were undertaken at various locations, the investigating officer had only looked into the one outside the Churchgate railway station.
The second closure report was filed before a city magistrate court in October, reported The Indian Express, quoting unidentified officials of the Economic Offences Wing.
The police have told the court that the case is inconclusive due to insufficient evidence of wrongdoing, reported The Times of India. They also noted that only Rs 12,881 was raised during the drive to collect funds outside Churchgate station, with no concrete evidence of significant transfers or additional collection efforts in Mumbai.
Witnesses gave conflicting accounts regarding the dates and amounts raised, claimed the police. Given the event’s duration and location, it is unlikely that Rs 57 crore was collected, they added.
They also said that the lack of third-party records to verify donor claims hindered investigators from confirming any significant fundraising efforts beyond the small sums reported publicly.
The police concluded that the lack of concrete evidence and substantial witness testimony indicated no criminal intent. The fundraising drive seemed more like a symbolic public awareness campaign rather than a serious financial effort, they said.
There was no evidence of embezzlement, fraud or misappropriation of significant funds, and the amount collected was deemed too small for any meaningful restoration project, the police added.
A first information report was registered against Somaiya, a former BJP MP from Mumbai North East, and his son in 2022 under Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property (420), punishment for criminal breach of trust (406) and acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention (34).
The complaint was filed by Baban Bhosle, a retired Army officer.
The INS Vikrant (1961), India’s first aircraft carrier, was decommissioned from service in 1997 and was anchored as a museum at Mumbai’s Naval Docks until 2012. In November 2014, the Supreme Court gave its final clearance for the historic ship to be scrapped.
Bhosle said that he had donated Rs 2,000 to save the warship from being dismantled as part of Somaiya’s fund collection drive in 2013. He alleged that while the Somaiyas claimed the funds had been submitted to the state’s governor, the Raj Bhavan had said in response to a Right to Information query that it had not received the money.
The Somaiyas have denied the allegations.
Somaiya told the police that only Rs 11,000 was collected and handed to the governor.
In its closure report filed in December 2022, the police said that they had recorded statements of 38 witnesses who had contributed money towards the cause during a drive conducted outside the Churchgate station.
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