Arun Gawli walks out of Nagpur jail after 17 years as SC grants him bail in murder case

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 last week 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.

In its order passed on August 28, the 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.

His family members, relatives, lawyer and supporters waited outside and they greeted him as he stepped out of the prison.

Amid tight security arrangements, Gawli was taken to the Nagpur airport, from where he left for Mumbai in a flight.

Additional police force was deployed inside the jail premises in view of Gawli's release, the official said.

The top court granted bail to Gawli subject to terms and conditions imposed by the trial court.

Gawli, who was booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 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.