By IANS,
Mumbai : The Bombay High Court Friday admitted an appeal filed by mafia don-turned-politician Arun Gawli challenging the life imprisonment awarded to him for his role in the killing of a Shiv Sena leader.
Gawli was sentenced Aug 31 to life imprisonment by Special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) Judge Prithviraj C. Chavan and told to pay a fine of Rs.1.70 million for his role in the killing of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar in 2007.
The appeal filed in the last week of September was admitted Friday by a division bench of Justice Abhay Oak and Justice S.S. Jadhav and will come up for hearing in due course.
In his petition, Gawli, who was a Maharashtra legislator between 2004 and 2009, has challenged his conviction and lifer on grounds that the verdict was bad in law and based on non-application of mind.
Besides Gawli, 11 of his associates were also sentenced to life imprisonment in the same case and two others were acquitted. One accused had died during the trial in July.
The others convicted are Sahebrao Bhintale, Sandeep Gangal, Shrikrishna Gurav, Pratap Godse, Ajit Rane, Suresh Patil, Ashok Jaiswal, Vijay Giri, Narendra Giri, Anil Giri and Sunil Ghate.
Kamlakar Jamsandekar was shot outside his home in Ghatkopar following a land dispute for a consideration of Rs.3 million, accepted by Gawli.
This is the first-ever conviction for Gawli in his long Mumbai underworld career spanning over four decades.