Gangster Arun Gawli moves HC seeking release on ground of old age

Nagpur, Mar 2 (PTI) Jailed gangster Arun Gawli has approached the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court seeking premature release on the ground that he has crossed the age of 70 years.

Gawli is undergoing life imprisonment in the central jail here in the 2007 murder case of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar.

Advocate Mir Nagman Ali, his lawyer, on Wednesday told the high court that as per a government notification of January 20, 2006, he is entitled to be released after the completion of 14 years of imprisonment and attaining the age of 65.

Gawli is also suffering from age-related ailments, the lawyer said.

The gangster, whose life has inspired a Bollywood biopic, has also challenged retrospective application of a 2015 amendment to the Maharashtra Prisons (Review of Sentences) Rules, 1972.

This amendment denies the benefit of the 2006 remission rule for those convicted under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act or MCOCA (like Gawli).

A division bench of Vinay Joshi and Valmiki Menezes on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government to file a reply by March 15 and adjourned the hearing. PTI CLS KRK KRK