The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted interim protection from arrest till April 28 to BJP leader Kirit Somaiya's son Neil Somaiya in a case of alleged misappropriation of public money collected for conserving the decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. A single bench of Justice Anuja Prabhudessai said that in the event of his arrest, Neil Somaiya should be released on a personal bond of Rs 50,000.

An FIR was registered against former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya and Neil Somaiya on April 6 at the Trombay police station in the city based on a complaint by an ex-Army person who claimed that the Somaiyas had collected Rs 57 crore from the public in 2013 for saving the decommissioned warship from being scrapped. However, this money was never used or deposited with the state governor's office, the complaint stated.