Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, April 13: The Bombay high court granted Kirit Somaiya, leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), pre-arrest bail on Wednesday in the case of alleged theft of funds to preserve INS Vikrant.
The development came two days after Somaiya was granted anticipatory bail in the same matter by the sessions court, prompting him to file a petition with the high court.
The Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is investigating Somaiya and his son, Neil, for allegedly failing to submit the 57 crore raised through crowdfunding to the Maharashtra Raj Bhavan to prevent the INS Vikrant from being cancelled. On the basis of a complaint filed by a former army officer, the Bombay Police issued a FIR against the father-son combo on April 7 under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Maharashtra government handed the matter to the Mumbai Police EOW on April 10.
While the push to collect donations to maintain INS Vikrant took place in 2013-14, the topic resurfaced in recent days as Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut cited the matter, whose family is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an alleged money-laundering case.
