The Arun Gawli gang, which was once feared by businessmen and builders, seems to have lost its teeth.
One
of the reasons for the gang’s downfall, according to the police, was
that Gawli tried to legitimise himself through politics.
“Many of
his men were killed in encounters and gang rivalry. As he was the only
person from the underworld left in the city, he thought it would be
better to get into politics. He formed the Akhil Bharatiya Sena in 1997,
and since then he has been lying low and discreetly doing extortion
through his cronies,” said Rakesh Maria, ATS chief.
“In the early
1980s, Gawli was a protégé of gangster Rama Naik, who was working for
Dawood Ibrahim. But Naik and Dawood got into loggerheads when two people
approached them separately to settle a property dispute,” said a senior
police officer. Dawood got the deal in favour of his man, which irked
Rama Naik. “When Naik was killed in an encounter in 1987, Gawli assumed
it was at Dawood’s behest. He took over the gang and declared a war
against him.”
Gawli extended his terror in central Mumbai such as
Tardeo, Parel, Kalachowkie, which was also a stronghold of Amar Naik.
“Gawli rose to power after he killed the owner of a garment company
owner and then in 1984, he tried to kill Ashwin Naik, which left the
latter paralysed. Gawli grew stronger in the 1990s as he was the only
one who stood against the don. He also got Dawood’s brother-in-law
Ibrahim Parkar killed,” said Maria. In 1993, Chhota Rajan split with
Dawood and joined hands with Gawli and they stood against the don.
“It
was sheer luck that while making inquiries about a gang of
extortionists, they spilled the beans about their involvement in Sena
corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar’s murder. This led us to Gawli in 2008
and the end of his crime career,” said Deven Bharti, inspector general
of police.
Daddy’s game up
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Gawli is first city gangster to be convicted under MCOCA & TADA
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Gangster-turned-politican Arun Gulabrao Gawli has entered the city’s legal history.
When
Gawli was given life imprisonment for his involvement in the murder of
Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar on Friday, he became the first
city-based gangster to be convicted under the draconian Maharashtra
Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
He was also the first gang leader to be convicted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) in 1990.
Recounting
the dramatic arrest of Gawli in 1990 for possessing a sten gun, retired
assistant commissioner of police Suresh Walishetty said: “Gawli’s
brother Papa had an affair with a woman, whose husband was a close
associate of don Dawood Ibrahim. Her husband got in touch with the
D-company and got Papa killed in Mahim in1990.”
Gawli wanted to
avenge his brother’s death. “Soon, he got the registration number of the
car that was used by the assailants. The car belonged to Manoj
Kulkarni, a Dawood gang member, but he was into hiding,” said
Walishetty.
When Gawli learnt that Kulkarni had come to his VP Road
home to attend his sister’s wedding, he laid a trap. Gawli’s men reached
Kulkarni’s home in a white Ambassador, which was then the police’s
official vehicle, posing as crime branch officers.
“Gawli’s aides
Sada Pawle, Vijay Tandel and Chhota Babu brought Kulkarni to Dagdi Chawl
and he was interrogated in the special inquiry room. After Kulkarni
admitted of having killed Papa, they took him to Tardeo and bumped off
in April 1990,” said Walishetty.
In July 1990, the police learnt
about Gawli’s involvement in Kulkarni’s murder, and they raided Dagdi
Chawl. Six teams of the SRPF looked for him. “After a four-hour search,
we noticed the sofa in one of the rooms moving. On opening it, we found
Gawli inside with a sten gun,” Walishetty said. “Gawli was sentenced to
seven years’ jail by the TADA court. But he appealed in the Supreme
Court and was released on technical grounds. Gawli was the first don to
be held in TADA case.”
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