Laxmi Zhiman

Laxmi Zhiman appears in the chronicle of the Mumbai underworld as a figure defined almost entirely by a single, devastating relationship. She was the private bodyguard of Neeta Naik, the wife of the absconding gangster Ashwin Naik, and her alleged affair with Neeta became the catalyst for one of the most notorious domestic murders in the city's criminal history. Zhiman's presence in the story is brief but seismic: her intimacy with Neeta, captured in photographs, drove the possessive Ashwin to order his wife's killing, an act that would end Neeta's life and reshape the legal fate of the Naik family.

Identity and Role

Zhiman's identity is established through her professional and personal proximity to Neeta Naik. She served as Neeta's private bodyguard, a position that placed her in constant, intimate contact with the woman she was hired to protect. This role, ostensibly one of security and vigilance, became the foundation for a relationship that transcended its professional bounds. As Neeta's husband remained in hiding, evading arrest and leaving his wife to navigate the treacherous waters of Mumbai's political and criminal worlds alone, Zhiman emerged as a source of support and, allegedly, romantic companionship. The media would later write extensively about Neeta's alleged extramarital affair, with Zhiman named as the central figure in these accounts.

The Affair and Its Consequences

The affair unfolded against a backdrop of profound isolation. With Ashwin Naik on the run, Neeta had begun to enjoy a newfound freedom, making her presence felt in the Shiv Sena and winning a second term in the Bombay Municipal Corporation. Yet this period of self-realisation also created a wide crack in the Neeta-Ashwin relationship. The separation had lasted years, and Neeta, feeling very lonely, began to look for support elsewhere. She allegedly found it in Zhiman. For Ashwin, a man described as always possessive, the news of this relationship was intolerable. He had earlier ordered the killing of electrical contractor Eknath Khanvilkar after the man had supposedly been intimate with Neeta. The final straw came when Ashwin, through his henchmen, acquired photographs that had captured Zhiman and Neeta together.

The Murder of Neeta Naik

On 13 November 2000, the consequences of this affair reached their violent conclusion. Neeta arrived at her Byculla home around noon. As she reached the door and began unlocking it, two men—identified as Manoj Bhalekar and Sunil Jadhav—brutally gunned her down. Neeta was rushed to KEM Hospital in Parel, where she succumbed to her injuries a day later. The following day, the media was filled with stories of her murder, and her liaisons with other men were ascribed as the cause for her tragic end. This end, it was said, had come at the hands of her own husband, the very person she had encouraged into the world of crime. Zhiman's role in this tragedy was thus sealed: she was the catalyst whose very existence, captured in damning photographs, had triggered the possessive rage that led to Neeta's death.

Aftermath and Legal Repercussions

In the wake of Neeta's murder, five persons were arrested, though two were later acquitted. Three others—Bhalekar, Nilratan Mukherjee, and Jadhav—were convicted, with Jadhav later killed in an encounter. Based on the confessions of Bhalekar and Mukherjee, Ashwin, who was already behind bars, was charged under the special MCOCA for the murder of his wife. According to police records, the conspiracy had been hatched by the gangster while inside Tihar jail. On 31 January 2009, a special MCOCA court acquitted Ashwin of his wife's murder for lack of evidence, and the Ashwin-Neeta love story that had turned sour was finally shut for good. For Zhiman, the narrative offers no further account; her significance remains locked in the moment of the affair, a private bodyguard whose alleged intimacy with her charge became the unwitting instrument of a gangster's fatal jealousy.