After spending more than 17 years in jail, Mumbai’s famous gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli finally walked out of the Nagpur jail on September 3, 2025. After the Supreme Court of India granted him bail in the 2007 murder case.
After walking out of the Nagpur Central Jail and taking a flight from there, gangster Arun Gawli reached his residence in the infamous Dagdi Chawl. After reaching his residence, he received a grand welcome by his family members and supporters at around 9:00 pm on Wednesday.
The 76-year-old former MLA`s supporters showered flowers and sprinkled `gulal` (vermillion powder) to welcome him and distributed sweets in the area.
Arun Gawli’s family members were overjoyed and were seen clicking pictures with him as he entered his house, where mediapersons were also present in large numbers.
As reported by news agency PTI, Arun Gawli shot to prominence from Dagdi Chawl, a neighbourhood of Byculla, and is the founder of the Akhil Bharatiya Sena. Gangster Gawli also served as an MLA from 2004 to 2009 from the Chinchpokli assembly constituency in Mumbai.
The Supreme Court of India, last week, granted bail to Gawli, who was serving life imprisonment for the murder of Mumbai Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar.
The bench of Supreme Court Justices M. M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh on August 28, while passing the order, noted Gawli had been in jail for more than 17 years and his appeal had been pending since then.
An official while addressing the issue said that, “After the completion of all legal formalities of the prisons department, Gawli came out of the jail around 12.30 pm on Wednesday,” as cited by news agency PTI.
When Arun Gawli was coming out of Nagpur, his family members, relatives, lawyer and supporters waited outside and eventually greeted him as he stepped out of the prison.
One of the officials also asserted that, “Amid tight security arrangements, Gawli was taken to the Nagpur airport. It has also been reported that additional police force was deployed inside the jail premises in view of Gawli`s release,” as cited by news agency PTI.
The Supreme Court of India granted bail to gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli, subject to terms and conditions imposed by the trial court.
Arun Gawli was booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). He then challenged the decision of the Bombay High Court on December 9, 2019, upholding his life sentence given by the trial court.
However, in August 2012, a sessions court in Mumbai sentenced him to life imprisonment in the case and imposed a Rs 17 lakh fine.
(With inputs from PTI)
