Ashwin Naik brought to Mumbai, gets police custody

MUMBAI, AUG 21: Underworld don Ashwin Naik was brought to the city amidst tight security on Saturday morning and has been remanded to Kal...

MUMBAI, AUG 21: Underworld don Ashwin Naik was brought to the city amidst tight security on Saturday morning and has been remanded to Kala Chowki police custody.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Usha Iyer remanded Naik to custody till September 3 next month. He has been charged with the murder of Ramdas Ambaokar, activist of underworld don Arun Gawli floated Akhil Bhartiya Sena on August 10, 1997 and charged under Section 302, 34, 3, 24, 27 and 20 of the IPC.

A strong posse had thrown a cordon around Mumbai Central railway station since early Saturday morning. Movement on platform No 5 was restricted to police personnel after a large number of curious bystanders gathered to get a glimpse of the don.

Clad in a checked shirt and black trousers physically disabled Ashwin Maruti Naik 38 and his trusted aide Kishore Rajput 38 were herded into a waiting police van no sooner the Rajdani Express arrived at around 9.40 am. A veil was thrown around the face of the two men by the police escorts toprevent photographers from taking any pictures.

According to a senior police officer Naik has been remanded to police custody in connection with Ambaokar8217;s murder but other cases may surface during investigations. The police had earlier arrested four Naik gangsters in connection Ambaokar8217;s murder. They are Dinesh Pingare, Sandeep Dicholkar, Sandeep Sakpal and Vilas Kakde. The four gangsters told the police that they killed Ambaokar at Kishore Rajput8217;s behest. Rajput later confessed that Ashwin Naik had instructed him to carry out the murder. Ambaokar was at his residence at Saidarshan Chawl under the jurisdiction of Kala Chowki police station when four men knocked at his door around 6.30 am. He was shot dead at point blank range when he stepped out of his house.

Ambaokar in his statement to the police before his death had accused the Ashwin Naik gang for killing him. While the revolver used in the shootout has been recovered, the four gangsters were set free on bail after a charge-sheet was filed by thepolice.

Naik was arrested by the West Bengal police on the Indo-Bangladesh border on August 1. The New Delhi police then sought his remand from the West Bengal police.

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The arrest was a sequel to a shootout incident in Nangloi area of West Delhi in which an alleged Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE member Sriram alias Lambu was killed and his accomplice Shivraman sustained injuries. Naik was then escorted to the city after his custody was given to the Mumbai police by a Special Judge at Delhi on August 19.