Mumbai court acquits late gangster Amar Naik’s kin of kidnapping, extortion charges

A sessions court on Tuesday acquitted Ashwin Naik – brother of late gangster Amar Naik – and his seven aides who were booked for in a 2015 abduction and extortion case under the stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and the Arms Act

A sessions court on Tuesday acquitted Ashwin Naik – brother of late gangster Amar Naik – and his seven aides who were booked for in a 2015 abduction and extortion case under the stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and the Arms Act. The other acquitted accused have been identified as Pramod Keluskar, Prathamesh Parab, Janardhan Sakpal, Rajesh Tambe, Avinash Khedekar, Milind Parab and Suraj Govardhan.

As per the prosecution’s case, in December 2015, Naik through his seven aides had kidnapped a Dadar-based builder, who was constructing a structure in the central suburbs. The builder was kidnapped at gun point and taken to Naik’s office in Subhash Nagar on NM Joshi Marg, the prosecution claimed. Naik had allegedly threatened the builder and demanded ₹50 lakh as well as 6,000-square-feet flat from him. (FILE)

As per the prosecution’s case, in December 2015, Naik through his seven aides had kidnapped a Dadar-based builder, who was constructing a structure in the central suburbs. The builder was kidnapped at gun point and taken to Naik’s office in Subhash Nagar on NM Joshi Marg, the prosecution claimed. Naik had allegedly threatened the builder and demanded ₹50 lakh as well as 6,000-square-feet flat from him.

The builder managed to escape from their custody after he requested that he needed some time to think. He then approached Dadar police, which registered a case under sections 364 (a) (abduction), 384 (punishment for extortion), 387 (putting person in fear of death or of grievous injury in order to commit extortion), 34 (common intention) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. In addition, the police had also applied sections of the Arms Act and later also invoked MCOCA in the case.

The builder then agreed to meet Naik to hand over the money. Naik, who is paralysed waist down, waited for him in a car. When he accepted the bag containing cash worth ₹50 lakh, the police detained him, the prosecution alleged. Later, his alleged aides were also picked up from the spot.

Naik’s advocates argued that there was hardly any evidence against him and most of the witnesses had turned hostile and that the accused had been framed in the case.

After hearing the arguments, sessions judge RR Bhosale acquitted the eight accused.

Naik has been acquitted in 16 other cases related to murder and extortion. One of the cases was pertaining to his wife’s murder. He was alleged to have hatched the conspiracy to kill his wife Nita when he was in Delhi’s Tihar Jail. Nita was shot dead outside their house in Chinchpokli on November 13, 2000, despite being under police protection. In 2009, a special MCOCA court had acquitted him in the case.

Naik, a London-educated electronic engineer, had taken over the gang run by his Amar, after his brother was gunned down by the police in an encounter in the 1990s.

In 1994, rival gang members had shot at Naik in the Mumbai sessions court premises, following which he had become wheelchair-bound.