A single-judge bench of justice Anuja Prabhudessai granted the same relief to Neil Somaiya Wednesday. The Bombay High Court Wednesday granted interim protection from arrest to Neil Somaiya, son of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, in connection with a cheating case alleging swindling of funds collected for the restoration of INS Vikrant, the Indian Navy’s first aircraft carrier.
Bombay High Court grants anticipatory bail to Neil Somaiya, son of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, in the INS Vikrant corruption case.
— ANI (@ANI) April 20, 2022
The high court on April 13 granted interim protection from arrest to Kirit Somaiya till April 28 and he approached it with a pre-arrest bail application after a sessions court rejected his plea. A single-judge bench of justice Anuja Prabhudessai granted the same relief to Neil Somaiya Wednesday. The court will hear anticipatory bail pleas of the father-son duo next on April 28. It also sought the investigation progress report by the next hearing.
The court noted: “In the event of arrest, Neil Somaiya be released on bail after furnishing surety of Rs 50,000. His presence is required on four days before the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police.”
Senior advocate Shirish Gupte, appearing for the Mumbai police, said: “We are interrogating the father (Kirit) and we would like to interrogate Neil as well. Both the matters are the same and there is misappropriation of a huge amount. That case of Kirit Somaiya is kept on April 28, this (Neil) too can be kept then.”
While granting interim protection to Kirit Somaiya, the court had observed that the first information report (FIR) indicated that allegations were mainly based on media reports. Though there were specific allegations of misappropriation of Rs 57 crore, there was no material on record to indicate on what basis the complainant had arrived at the said figure, the court observed. “It is also to be noted that the complaint had been lodged in 2022 for money allegedly collected in 2013,” the bench had said.
A complaint of cheating was filed at the Trombay police station by a former Indian Army man claiming that a donation drive was started by Somaiya in 2013 to prevent INS Vikrant from being decommissioned and scrapped. He said in his complaint that Somaiya, his son Neil, and others had collected funds by setting up donation boxes at various locations in the city.
The complainant said that due to the significance of INS Vikrant, including its contribution to the 1971 war, he contributed Rs 2,000. He learned in 2014 that the warship was scrapped and auctioned to a company for Rs 60 crore. The complaint said that Somaiya had tweeted that he had written a letter to the governor in 2013 on the contribution Mumbaikars were ready to make. The complainant alleged that the governor’s office in a reply said no money was received from Somaiya from 2013 to 14.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
