Arun Gawli convicted in Sena corporator murder case

Arun Gawli convicted in Sena corporator murder case

Twelve years after the murder of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar, a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Friday convicted gangster-turned politician Arun Gawli for the 2008 contract killing. The 11 more accused in the case were also convicted. Now, the court will pronounce the sentence for these 12 men on Monday. One of the accused, Bala Surve, died during the trial while three others were acquitted. Jamsandeker was killed in March 2008 at his Asalfa residence in Ghatkopar. Around two months later on May 21, 2008, Gawli was arrested in the case and has been lodged in jail since then. The court had on October 7, 2010 framed charges against Gawli and the other accused under MCOCA, section 302 (murder), 34 (common intention) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Gawli and the other accused had pleaded innocence. “This is the first case in which Gawli has been convicted, although he has several offences registered against him,” said joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy. “The quantum of sentence has not been decided yet. But we would be arguing for death penalty considering his criminal background and heinous crimes that he has committed.” Inspector general of police (law and order), Deven Bharti, who handled the case during his stint with the crime branch as DCP, said, “This is for the first time that a gang leader has been convicted in a MCOCA case ever since the act came into existence.”