Nagpur: The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court on Monday “partly allowed” gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli’s petition which sought extension of his four-day parole and removal of a police escort while out of jail. Gawli sought parole for his younger son’s marriage scheduled for November 17.
Now Gawli can come out on parole without a police escort with a cash security deposit of Rs 1 lakh, instead of the Rs 5 lakh mentioned in the jail authorities’ order.
Advocate Mir Nagman Ali, along with advocate Shahrukh Khan, pleaded that their client Gawli never violated any conditions on 12 occasions of being granted parole or furlough. They also pleaded for an extension of the four-day parole order as previously he had been granted 15 days.
The bench headed by Justice Vinay Joshi and Justice Vrushali Joshi said, “The impugned order is modified to the extent of setting aside the condition of providing a police escort. The amount of security is altered to the extent of furnishing cash security of Rs 1 lakh with surety of the like amount”.
Regarding extending his parole, the decision has been left to the jail authorities. Before approaching the courts, Gawli applied to the DIG (Prisons). The plea was opposed by Mumbai police stating that Gawli is a gangster with the possibility of a law and order situation being created cannot be ruled out. The application was ultimately allowed by the DIG but parole was granted for only four days, that too with a police escort on deposit of a cash security of Rs 5 lakh and a surety bond of a relative for Rs 5 lakh.