The Supreme Court has denied bail to Arun Gawli, the gangster-turned-politician, currently serving a life sentence for the 2007 murder of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar. The decision came on Thursday, upholding the earlier judgment of the Bombay High Court, which also rejected his bail plea.
Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran presided over the bench that refused to grant relief to Gawli, aligning with the Bombay High Court’s stance. The High Court’s Nagpur bench had previously granted Gawli a 28-day furlough on January 7, but remained firm on not extending a bail.
Gawli’s legal troubles stem from his involvement in the high-profile murder case. Arrested in 2006, he was tried and subsequently sentenced by a Mumbai sessions court in August 2012 to life imprisonment, alongside a fine of Rs 17 lakh. His conviction pertains to his role in the assassination of Jamsandekar, a case that significantly marred his transition from a notorious gang leader based in Dagdi Chawl, Byculla, to a politician. Gawli founded the Akhil Bharatiya Sena and served as an MLA from Mumbai’s Chinchpokli constituency from 2004 to 2009.
The former MLA’s plea for bail was based on his compliance with the conditions of the 2006 remission policy, an argument that has failed to sway the judicial authorities at both the high court and apex court levels. His legal team approached the Nagpur bench following a rejection from the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Prisons, East division, in Nagpur, hoping for a different outcome that ultimately did not materialize.
