Bombay HC grants gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli 28-day furlough

Arun Gawli

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court Tuesday granted gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli a 28-day furlough from April 30, a day after Mumbai votes for the Lok Sabha election.

The state government had objected to Gawli's furlough, saying he should not be released since Lok Sabha polls were under way and he could breach the model code of conduct.

A division bench of Justice ZA Haq and Justice Vinay Joshi directed that the furlough period begin from April 30.

Gawli's lawyer Rajendra Daga told court that his client had not violated any of the laid down conditions when he was released on parole on six occasions earlier and had surrendered on the dates fixed.

Gawli, lodged in the Nagpur central jail since 2016, is serving life sentence for the 2007 killing of Shiv Sena corporator Kamalakar Jamsandekar. He was convicted in 2012.

Gawli, 63, had also forayed into politics and floated a party named the Akhil Bharatiya Sena. He was elected as an MLA in 2004.

Last year, mid-day had reported that notorious goon Gawli has scored 74 marks out of the total 80 in the examination, which is held at the Nagpur Central jail just a day prior to Gandhi Jayanti for about 160 prisoners. Four years back, convict Yakub Memon had topped the same examination.

Speaking to mid-day, Ravindra Bhusari, trustee of Mumbai-based Sayog Trust, which had introduced the examination to bring certain behavioural changes in the prisoners, said, "The exam is based on the books of Gandhian philosophy, which includes his autobiography as well. Last year about 160 prisoners, including under-trial ones, appeared for the test. The hour-long examination is an open book one and mostly has objective type questions."

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