Arun Gawli's transition from law-breaker to law-maker
MUMBAI, Oct 16 (UNI): It has been an eight-year-long journey for former underworld don Arun Gawli from the bylanes of Mumbai to the portals of the Maharashtra assembly.
The former gangster was today elected from the Chinchpokli constituency in South Central Mumbai and will be a member of the 288-strong Maharashtra assembly.
After his acquittal in 1997 in various cases, Arun Gawli alias "Daddy" floated the Akhil Bharatiya Sena (ABS) and contested elections thrice, emerging successful on his third attempt this time.
Gawli (53) won from the Chinchpokli constituency, defeating Congress candidate and MHADA chairman Madhu Chavan by over 11,000 votes.
In the 1999 assembly polls, he contested from Khed in Pune district as he was then externed out of Mumbai.
In the May 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he contested from Mumbai South Central but lost to Shiv Sena's Mohan Rawale.
Gawli managed to secure more than 92,000 votes.
Sachin Ahir, Gawli's nephew and city NCP chief and Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh President, also lost the Lok Sabha elections by a narrow margin.
The uncle-nephew duo later patched up and Ahir contested from the neighbouring Sewree constituency this time, emerging the winner.
Gawli was not able to step out of his Dagdi Chawl to vote in the Lok Sabha elections as the Mumbai Police had deputed "encounter specialist" Senior Inspector Vijay Salaskar to keep a tab on the movement of Gawli and his men.
Gawli had, in the past, been arrested for several cases of extortion, but has not so far been convicted in any of them despite being prosecuted under stringent laws like TADA, MPDA and NSA apart from IPC and CrPC.
He had been behind the bars for more than eight years in different cases.
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