MUMBAI, March 20: The Additional Chief Metropolitian Magistrate of Girgaum Court, K H Holambe Patil, today remanded underworld don Arun Gawli and his wife Asha to judicial custody till April 2.After Gawli was brought to Mumbai from Amravati jail in February in connection with the murder of city-based builder Manish Shah early last month, he had been remanded to police custody. Today's order comes in the wake of the request made by Gawli's lawyer to shift him to judicial custody.
Gawli's wife Asha was also arrested by the Mumbai police on March 6 in connection with the same case.
The police believe that Gawli had ordered the killing of Shah over a property dispute in Girgaum area. The involvement of both the husband and wife in two other recent murders in the city is also being looked into.
The other cases which are being probed are the killings of Ashwin Naik's key associate Dinesh Sakaram Jathar at Tardeo on January 9, and "matka king" Kalyanjibhai Shah's son Vasantlal at Worli on January11.
A senior police officer said on condition of anonymity that several incriminating documents which prove Gawli's involvement in the murders have been seized by the police. There is clinching evidence to prove Asha Gawli's role in the murders, the officer said.
According to underworld sources, the Gawli gang hit upon a lean patch after the killing of the Dagdi don's close associate Sada Pawle in a police encounter on September 26 last year.
Subsequently, the gang resorted to gunning down some "soft" targets to spread terror among their sources, so that they would cough up protection money, sources informed.
Gawli, named in over 20 reported and unreported cases, including murders, is also being accused of having masterminded the killings of four Mumbai-based Shiv Sena activists in the last two months.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
