JOIN USNow, Sanjay Raut comes out with 'The Vikrant Files'
Alleging a major scam into the funds collected to save aircraft carrier Vikrant from being scrapped, Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut demanded a probe by the Maharashtra government.
Raut also said that this is a fit case to be investigated by the CBI, IT and ED.
“Not a single paisa has reached the Raj Bhavan, as it was told,” Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, told Marathi channels in his New Delhi residence.
Raut also pointed fingers at BJP leader and former Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya, saying that around Rs 57 crore was collected as part of the drive.
“RTI applications have revealed that not a single paisa was submitted to the Raj Bhavan,” Raut said.
“This is a big issue…this is ‘The Vikrant Files’…bigger than ‘The Kashmir Files’…the Vikrant issue involves national security and the sentiments of people,” he said.
Raut said that the Vikrant warship played a heroic role during the Bangladesh Liberation. “After the decommissioning (and plans to convert her into a big maritime museum) there were difficulties in her upkeep. Leaders from Maharashtra used to come and meet prime ministers and defence ministers on the issue,” he said.
In this backdrop, he said, Somaiya started a fund raising drive ‘Save Vikrant’ and had assured that the money would be deposited in Raj Bhavan. “Somaiya collected lakhs…what happened to that? … a few people called him and told him they too donated Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 in Navy Nagar, Churchgate station, and Chembur,” he said.
As far as Vikrant was concerned, she has an interesting story.
The keel laid in November 1943 and launched as Hercules in September 1945 – but construction was stopped after the second World War ended. In 1957, she was sold to India and in 1961 she was commissioned as INS Vikrant on March 4, 1961. She was decommissioned on January 31, 1997.
Plans to convert her into a full-fledged maritime museum off the Mumbai coast failed. On November 20, 2014, the process of scrapping was commenced at the Darukhana ship breaking yard in Mumbai.
Meanwhile Somaiya said: “Sanjay Raut just makes allegations, he does not give a single paper to establish what he says.”
Raut, however, urged prime minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, Maharashtra’s leader of opposition and ex-chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the “entire BJP” to look into the issue.
Fadnavis, when asked about the allegations, said: “They (Shiv Sena) have not provided any evidence against Kirit Somaiya. They try their best to act against Kirit (Somaiya) and his son (Neil Somaiya). We are watching this matter….our crusade against corruption would continue.”
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