Old habits die hard, and in the city's underworld they never seem to die. Barely three years after his release from jail, cases of extortion, threats and assault have started piling up against gangster-turned-realtor, Ashwin Naik. While the Crime Branch has just commenced the investigation into the two cases registered against Naik, a Dindoshi resident approached them with a complaint of extortion yesterday.
Naik, who had been involved in the cases of murder, extortion and criminal assault, was released after 10 years of imprisonment in 2009. In a span of just one month, Naik has been booked on charges of extortion and assault one after another. After a BMC contractor and a developer from Dadar filed cases of extortion and assault against Naik, the owner of an event company has lodged a fresh complaint of extortion against the former gangster.u00a0
On Tuesday, Adil Shaikh, owner of Insync Retail and Events Company, an event and strategy planning company accused Naik of giving threats and robbing him on the behest of his client, Hashim Gaya. Following the incident, the NM Joshi Marg police have registered a case of extortion, threat and robbery against Hashim Gaya, Ashwin Naik and his associate Dineshbhau.
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In his complaint Adil alleged that, he had taken a contract from one Hashim Gaya, owner of Elite Fish Pedicure, to design pedicure centres in shopping malls in the city. Adil was supposed to receive Rs 10 lakh for his services for which Hashim issued a post-dated cheque of Rs 5.28 lakh in November 2011 as a security deposit.
On December 24, Hashim called Adil to Naik’s office in Subhash Nagar at NM Joshi Marg on the pretext of collecting the first installment. “Since I was not aware of Naik, I went to the given address with my relative to collect my money. As we entered the premises, we both were produced before Ashwin Naik. One of his henchmen who was referred as Dineshbhau by Hashim, assaulted us while we were conversing,” said Adil recalling the incident.
He further added, “After assaulting me, Dineshbhau asked me whether I am familiar with the man sitting on the wheelchair. As I replied in the negative he asked me to google, Ashwin Naik on the web.” Adil was then forced to sign on a termination agreement. Naik’s men forcibly took the cheque of Rs 5.28 lakh from Adil’s possession and asked him to settle the bills for just Rs 2 lakh, which they paid him in cash.
Once out from Naik’s office, Adil lodged a complaint with the NM Joshi Marg police station. Confirming the report, Senior Police Inspector S Ghagre of NM Joshi Marg police station said, “We have registered the case and transferred it to the crime branch for further investigations.”u00a0
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