Arun Gawli

Arun Gawli [1][2] (Born: 17 July 1955)[3] also known as Arun Gulab Ahir is an Indian politician, underworld don[4][5] and former gangster.[6][7] Gawli and his brother Kishor (Pappa) entered the Mumbai underworld in the 1970s, when they joined the "Byculla Company", a criminal gang led by Rama Naik and Babu Reshim, operating in the central Mumbai areas of Byculla, Parel and Saat Rasta. In 1988, after Rama Naik was killed in a police encounter, Gawli took over the gang and began operating it from his residence, Dagdi Chawl. Under his control, the gang controlled most criminal activities in the central Mumbai areas. Throughout the late eighties and nineties, Gawli's gang was involved in a power struggle with Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company gang. Gawli is also the founder of the Akhil Bharatiya Sena political party based in Maharashtra.[8]

Early and personal life

Arun Gawli was born in Pohegaon, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. He married Asha Gawli, a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Maharashtra, and has two children, Mahesh and Geeta.[9][10] Geeta is a first term ABS corporator from the Chinchpokli assembly constituency.[11] Gawli's nephew Sachin Ahir is an MLA and is the former Maharashtra Minister of State for Housing.[12] Gawli's uncle Hukumchand Yadav was a legislator from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh.[11]

Criminal activities

Gawli worked in textile mills, located in the central areas of Parel, Chinchpokli, Byculla and Cotton Green. From the 1970s to the late 1980s, Mumbai's textile mill industry witnessed mass strikes and eventual lock-outs. As a result, many young adults (including Gawli) had no employment and eventually found a short-cut to quick money through matka gambling and hafta-vasuli. Gawli then joined the "Byculla Company" gang led by gangsters Rama Naik and Babu Reshim and supervised their illegal liquor dens.

Mumbai police raided the premises of Dagdi Chawl several times and finally broke Gawli's underworld operations. Gawli was arrested several times for criminal activities and was detained for long periods during the trial. However, he could not be convicted in most of the cases as witnesses would not depose against him for fear of retaliation. He was finally convicted of the murder of Shiv Sena leader Kamlakar Jamsandekar by a court in August 2012. Gawli and eleven others were found guilty of Jamsandekar's murder.[13]

Politics

Gawli got political patronage in the 1980s, when the then Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, criticised the Mumbai police for taking stringent action against Hindu gangsters like Arun Gawli and Sai Bansod, referring to them as amchi muley (our boys). Thackeray was challenged by a rival gangster in an open letter carried on the front page of a city tabloid.[14] However, Gawli fell out with Shiv Sena in the mid 1990s, murdered Shiv Sena men and formed his own political party, the Akhil Bharatiya Sena.

In 2004, Gawli was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Mumbai Chinchpokli constituency as an Akhil Bharatiya Sena candidate. Gawli's rise in prominence is believed to be due to his "native roots" as a local lad, which makes him distinct from most other non-Marathi-speaking politicians.

Gawli's political designs suffered a major blow when his nephew and party legislator, Sachin Ahir, came out openly against him and joined Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party. Ahir even contested against Gawli in the subsequent Lok Sabha elections on a Nationalist Congress Party ticket, resulting in defeat for them both, but a victory for the Shiv Sena's sitting MP Mohan Rawale. Gawli's daughter Geeta was recently elected as a corporator to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

References
  1. Jayaram, N. (2017). Social Dynamics of the Urban: Studies from India. Indian Institute of Advanced Study. ISBN 9788132237419 – via Google Books.
  2. Virani, Pinki (2017). Once was Bombay. Indian Institute of Advanced Study. ISBN 9789352140749 – via Google Books.
  3. डिजाईन, Ankitaअंकिता दीपावली की; है|, डेवलपमेंट और आर्टिकल के सर्च इंजन की विशेषग्य है| ये इस साईट की एडमिन है| इनको वेबसाइट ऑप्टिमाइज़ और कभी कभी आर्टिकल लिखना पसंद (3 September 2017). "अरुण गवली का जीवन परिचय | Arun Gawli Biography in hindi". Deepawali. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  4. Kumar, Praveen. "Policing the Police 2 Edition". Indian Police service. p. 243 – via Google Books.
  5. Inside India. Publish America. p. 337. ISBN 9781607499145 – via Google Books.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 September 2012. Retrieved 18 February 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Arun Gawli gets life for corporator's murder". mid-day.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  8. "'Arun Gawli's party front for crime' – The Times of India". The Times Of India. 6 September 2012.
  9. Zaidi, S. Hussain; Borges, Jane (1 January 2011). "Mafia Queens of Mumbai". Westland. Retrieved 2 December 2016 – via Google Books.
  10. "What marriage? What nonsense!". mid-day.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  11. "Gawli's Daughter Marries Developer". Express India. Archived from the original on 11 July 2013. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  12. "Dagdi Chawl's Daddy Cool". Tehelka Archive. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2016.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  13. "Arun Gawli convicted in murder case". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 24 August 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Makrand Deshpande as Arun Gawli - Times of India". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  16. "WATCH: Makrand as Arun Gawli - Times of India". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  17. "Arjun Rampal as Daddy".
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