Arun Gawli walks free after 17 years as Supreme Court grants bail

Gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli was released from Nagpur Central Jail after 17 years following Supreme Court bail in a 2007 murder case. The former MLA, convicted under MCOCA, had challenged the Bombay High Court’s 2019 verdict upholding his life sentence

Mumbai: After spending more than 17 years behind bars, gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli on Wednesday walked out of the Nagpur Central Jail with the Supreme Court granting him bail in a 2007 murder case, officials said.

The apex court granted bail to 76-year-old Gawli, who was serving life imprisonment for the murder of Mumbai Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar. A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh noted that Gawli was in jail for over 17 years and his appeal was pending before it. “After the completion of all legal formalities of the prisons department, Gawli came out of the jail around 12.30 pm,” an official said.

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He was welcomed by his family members, lawyer, and supporters. Gawli was booked under the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The top court granted bail to Gawli, subject to terms and conditions imposed by the trial court. Gawli had challenged the December 9, 2019, verdict of the Bombay High Court, upholding his life sentence given by the trial court.

He shot to prominence from Dagdi Chawl, a neighbourhood of Byculla, and is the founder of the Akhil Bharatiya Sena. He was an MLA from 2004 to 2009 from the Chinchpokli assembly constituency in Mumbai. In August 2012, a sessions court in Mumbai sentenced him to life imprisonment in the case and imposed a Rs 17 lakh fine.