Thursday, May 19 2005 16:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Gangster Ashwin Naik was today (May 19, 2005) booked under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and produced before a special court, which remanded him to police custody till June 6 in a murder case.

Naik is charged with murder of his corporator wife Neeta who was killed outside her residence on November 13, 2003.

Naik, a paralytic patient, was brought to the court of designated judge A P Bhangale in a wheel chair amidst tight security.

The court also allowed Ashwin to have home food and medicines in jail and permitted his lawyer Pradeep Mahajan to remain present during police interrogation.

Naik, who was serving sentence in New Delhi's Tihar Jail, was brought in Mumbai on May 17 to stand trial in 16 cases, including extortion and attempt to murder. However, police booked him under MCOCA for murder of his wife Neeta Naik after obtaining sanction from the competent authority.

Naik was charged under section 302 IPC (murder), 120-b (conspiracy) read with sections 3(1) (i), 3(2)(3) and 4 of MCOCA, which harps on activities of organised crime syndicate.

According to police, city corporator and Ashwin's wife Neeta Naik was gunned down by two assailants outside her residence on November 13, 2003 at the instance of Ashwin who was lodged in Tihar jail at the relevant time.

According to police, Ashwin suspected that Neeta had an affair with her bodyguard and conspired to kill her. Five persons were arrested for the crime and two of them were later acquitted. Of the accused, Manoj Bhalekar, Nilratan Mukherjee and Sunil Jadhav were convicted. They had told police that Naik had conspired Neeta's murder.