BOMBAY, 17 April 2006 — The crime branch sleuths of Bombay police invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) last evening against notorious gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli, a legislator from Chinchpokli in central Bombay.
The legislator has been in the news recently for his alleged complicity in model and film actress Preeti Jain case wherein Jain had allegedly hired one of Gawli’s former henchman to murder director Madhur Bhandarkar. Gawli was also later booked by the crime branch for allegedly attempting to extort money from a city businessman.
A senior official of the Crime Branch told Arab News that there were several cases registered against Gawli for extortion and threatening people. “We have sufficient evidence for the legislator’s link related to extortion,” said the official. Furnishing further details of the case, the official said Gawli has been accused of extorting money from Parel-based hotelier Mohammed Qureshi in November 2005. The hotelier had approached Gawli to settle a business dispute. After the settlement, Gawli allegedly extorted money from the hotelier after which a case of extortion was registered against him and his aide Sunil Ghate.
Immediately after the police filed an application in the MCOCA court against Gawli, he went underground to evade arrest. The police swooped on several of his hide-outs till yesterday morning, but were unable to find him.
In the court, Gawli’s lawyers argued and pressed for anticipatory bail for the accused. This was opposed by Rohini Salian, the public prosecutor appearing for the Bombay police, who informed the court that there was no provision under MCOCA for granting of anticipatory bail. She also informed the court that the competent authority—the Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime—had on April 14 granted sanction to invoke MCOCA against Gawli.
Defending the decision to invoke the MCOCA against the legislator, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Meera Borwankar said that if the police fail to stop “Bhais” (slang for notorious gangsters) like Gawli from running their parallel governments through which they illegally and forcefully settle the disputes of people, it will lead to the collapse of law and order and pose threat to the security of the citizens. Borwankar further said that booking of the accused is meant to send a strong signal to the criminals that the police are committed to ensure the safety and security of the people of the city at all costs.
