Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied bail to convicted gangster Arun Gulab Gawli pending his appeal against conviction in a 2007 murder case. The SC bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar declined Gawli’s plea for bail.Appearing for Gawli, former Bombay High Court Judge, Abhay Thipsay, then sought an early date to expedite the hearing of the appeal, as in the other case against him, the gangster was acquitted.Gawli was serving a rigorous life imprisonment sentence after an Aug 2012 conviction in a 2007 murder case of Mumbai Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar and 2008 and 2009 special cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. The life sentence is life till the end of natural life, the SC has held time and again. The state, however, has a remission policy in place for lifers.The state, represented by additional solicitor general Raja Thakare, meanwhile, earlier filed a special leave petition (SLP) seeking to challenge the judgment dated April 5 passed by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC bench that permitted the gangster’s early release citing a 2006 state policy for remission, called the ‘Premature Release policy’. The state said the HC order was “completely misconceived” as the law provides power to remit a sentence to the govt. The SC, in a 1976 ruling, said only the govt possesses sole discretion of granting remission to a convict.The state’s contention was that the HC could not compel the state to implement any remission and release him as it said Gawli is a “hardened criminal turned politician” convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in a crime syndicate case and has other pending cases against him, including others under the stringent MCOCA.Gawli formed the Akhil Bharatiya Sena and was also elected as Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) in 2004 in Chinchpokli, Mumbai, a neighbourhood close to his home at Dagdi Chawl.
