Arun Gawli

Arun Gawl
Born 17-07-1955
Kopargaon, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra
Other names Daddy
Occupation Gangster
Years active 1970s-present
Religion Hindu
Criminal charge Murder
Criminal penalty Life sentence
Spouse(s) Asha Gawli

Arun Gawli (full name Arun Gulab ahir) is a gangster-turned-politician in Mumbai, India who has been convicted for murder and imprisoned for life.[1][2] He married Asha Gawli and has two children. He is also the founder of political party Akhil Bharatiya Sena based in Maharashtra.[3]

Family

Asha Gawli is the wife of Arun Gulab Ahir, she is also member of the Legislative Assembly for Maharashtra. Asha Gawli was a Muslim with the name Zubeida Mujawar before she got married to Arun Gawli.[4] Mahesh is the son [5] and Geeta age 23 is a first term ABS corporator from Arun Gawli's stronghold in the Chinchpokli assembly constituency is the daughter.[6] MLA and former Maharashtra Minister of state for housing Sachin Ahir is the nephew of Arun Gawli.[7] and legislator from Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh Hukumchand Yadav is his uncle.[6]

Criminal activities

Arun Gawli's gang is based at Dagdi Chawl in Byculla- Saat Rasta, Mumbai. He started his criminal activities there and used the rooms there for keeping kidnapped persons, torturing them, extorting money from them and murdering them. The police raided the premises several times and finally broke his operations.[8]

He has been arrested several times for criminal activities and detained for long periods during 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 for murder of Shiv Sena leader Kamalakar Jamsandekar by a court in August 2012. Gawli and eleven others were found guilty of Jamsandekar's murder.[9]

Politics

He had got political patronage in 1980s when the Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray had criticised the Mumbai police for taking stringent action against Hindu gangsters like Arun Gawli and Sai Bansod referred 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.[10] However, Gawli fell out with Shiv Sena in mid-1990s, murdered Shiv Sena men and formed his own political party.

Due to tax laws that permit criminals to fight elections and as with several other criminals in India, Gawli also entered politics and formed his political party.

In 2004, he was elected as an 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. He even contested against Gawli in the subsequent Lok Sabha elections on a Nationalist Congress Party ticket, resulting in defeat for them both, but victory for the Shiv Sena's sitting MP Mohan Rawale. His daughter was recently elected as a corporator to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

In popular culture

In the 2015 Marathi movie Daagdi Chaawl, Makarand Deshpande's character called Daddy is mainly based on Arun Gawli's life. Ankush Choudhary played the lead and as Arun Gawli's lieutenant.[11][12] Another hindi movie named 'Daddy' set to be based on Arun Gawli's life starring Arjun Rampal is set to release in 2017.

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-02. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
  2. ↑ "Arun Gawli gets life for corporator's murder". mid-day.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "'Arun Gawli's party front for crime' – The Times of India". The Times Of India. 2012-09-06.
  4. ↑ Zaidi, S. Hussain; Borges, Jane (1 January 2011). "Mafia Queens of Mumbai". Westland. Retrieved 2 December 2016 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ "What marriage? What nonsense!". mid-day.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Gawli's Daughter Marries Developer". Express India. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  7. ↑ "Dagdi Chawl's Daddy Cool". Tehelka Archive. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  8. ↑ "The Dark Face of Mumbai By Prabhat Sharan". countercurrents.org. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  9. ↑ "Arun Gawli convicted in murder case". The Hindu. Chennai, India. August 24, 2012. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  10. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
  11. ↑ "Makrand Deshpande as Arun Gawli - Times of India". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  12. ↑ "WATCH: Makrand as Arun Gawli - Times of India". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
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