The Bombay High Court on Monday confirmed the life imprisonment awarded by the Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Court to underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawli in 2012 for his involvement in the murder of Shiv Sena corporator Kamalakar Jamsandekar in March 2007.
A HC division bench comprising Justice B. P. Dharmadhikari and Justice Swapna Joshi upheld the verdict given by a special MCOCA court on August 31, 2012, sentencing Gawli and ten others to life imprisonment for their involvement in the murder of Sena corporator Jamsandekar on March 2, 2007.
While awarding life imprisonment to the erstwhile underworld gang lord, special MCOCA court judge Prithviraj Chavan had also imposed a fine of Rs 17 lakh on Galwi and ruled that if the latter failed to pay the fine, he would serve an additional three years’ sentence.
Like Gawli, ten out of the eleven other convicted accused in the case were handed life imprisonment, while the remaining one accused — Sunil Ghate — was awarded a prison term of three years as he had been convicted only under the Arms Act.
The judge had also awarded ten years’ sentence each to Gawli for being a member of the organised crime syndicate and involved in extortion
A three-time corporator, Jamsandekar was found shot dead in his Asalpha residence at Saki Naka in north Mumbai on March 2, 2007.
Though from the beginning the murder was suspected to have been committed over a property dispute, it took more than 13 months for the police to crack the case.
On April 29, 2008, the crime branch police arrested Gawli and 15 others behind the crime under the MCOCA.
During the arguments on the quantum of sentence, Gawli had told the Judge that there was no reason for him to eliminate Jamsandekar for a “paltry” sum of Rs 30 lakh.
“Since my party — Akhila Bharatiya Sena— had the strength of four corporators, I could have earned more money by indulging in horse trading and extending our party’s support to the ruling Shiv Sena which was not in a majority after the 2007 Mumbai civic polls.
That’s why there was no reason for me to kill Jamsandekar for Rs 30 lakh,” Gawli argued before the judge.
Gawli, who was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly between 2004 and 2009, has since been behind the bars. He is currently lodged in the Nagpur Central Prison.
The Prosecution’s case was that Surve and Sahebrao Bhintade, both real-estate developers, who had allegedly a score to settle with Jamsandekar, had given a “supari” (contract) of Rs 30 lakh for killing the Shiv Sena corporator.
In a 572 — page charge-sheet filed in the case in October 2010, the police had named Gawli and 15 others, including Surve and Bhintade , as accused.
Of the total 16 accused in the case, the MCOCA court on August 24, 2012 held 12 accused — including Gawli — guilty of charges against them, while it acquitted three accused for lack of evidence against them. The remaining one accused, Bala Surve — who had been suffering from various serious ailments — had died during the trial. Subsequently on August 27, 2012, the special court on handed out life sentence to Gawli and ten others for their involvement in Sena corporator Jamsandekar’s murder on March 2, 2007.