As per the latest reports, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said that a Bharatiya Janata Party dissident and ex-MP Kirit Somaiya supposedly siphoned off Rs 58 crore that was swarm supported to save the country’s first aircraft carrier, the recent ‘INS Vikrant’.
Raut said that the disclosure has turned out in RTI answer put together by Maharashtra Raj Bhavan to an extremist Dhirendra Upadhyay in March, and uncovered the “treason” of Somaiya and his allies.
The extremist had requested subtleties of the funds raised from general society, resigned and serving guard faculty and authorities trying to save the decommissioned ‘Vikrant’ from the scrapyard in 2013-2014.
“Somaiya had proposed to assist with the fund raisers and said the sum gathered would be given over to the Maharashtra Governor at Raj Bhavan. At long last, the Raj Bhavan has expressed that no such cash was gotten,” Raut said.
On his part, Somaiya said Raut is reveling just in “time-elapse” after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) made a move against his better half and companions on Tuesday.
“He had heaved such countless charges against my significant other, my family and myself.” If he has any proof against me then he ought to hand it over to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray” Somaiya said.
Marking Somaiya as “a bug” (Keeda) which would be fixed, Raut said the Maharashtra government would enquire into the misappropriation of the funds to “Save Vikrant”.
He said that Somaiya is a Chartered Accountant who knows how to “digest” such cash and requested that even the Central offices lead a fair test into the matter. It might very well be reviewed that after INS Vikrant was decommissioned in 1997, it was safeguarded as a gallery till 2012, after which there was scarcity of funds to keep up with.
Around then Somaiya had proposed to assist by a progression of fund raisers and group financing drives in which an expected Rs57-58 crore was gathered that should have been given over to the Raj Bhavan.
