The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Friday announced life term imprisonment to gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli and ten others in the 2007 murder case of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar.
A MCOCA special judge Prithviraj Chavan delivered the final verdict and slapped a Rs1.8 million fine on Gawli. And if the gangster-turned-politician fails to pay the imposed fine, he will have to spend an additional three years in jail.
While Gawli's 10 associates were also sentenced to life imprisonment, his close associate and most-trusted man Sunil Ghate was convicted under Arms Act and has been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. The court also gave him 10 more years of imprisonment with a fine of Rs 5 lakh for being a member of the organised crime association and for extorting money from builders and others.
While announcing the verdict, Chavan told Gawli "Instead of death I am giving you life imprisonment."
During the arguments on Friday, Gawli told the court that there was no reason for him to kill Jamsandekar for Rs 3 million.
Gawli's family is not ready to buy the decision of the court, and his daughter Geeta Gawli said that justice was not done to her father, news agency IANS reported.
"Justice has not been done to him. We shall appeal in the Bombay High Court," IANS quoted Geeta as saying.
While, Gawli's family members were unhappy, Jamsandekar's widow Komal expressed happiness and said "justice has been finally done."
In total, Rs 150 million were imposed on all accused as fine out of which 40% of the amount will be given to Jamsandekar's widow as compensation, the court said.
