Nagpur (Maharashtra), April 5 (IANS) In a significant development, the dreaded ex-mafia don-turned-politician Arun Gulab Gawli is set to be freed prematurely from the life term he is undergoing in Nagpur Central Jail, as per a Bombay High Court order, here on Friday.

A division bench comprising Justice Vinay Joshi and Justice Vrushali Joshi has allowed a criminal re-petition filed by Arun Gawli challenging the rejection of his previous plea claiming premature release given a government notification of January 10, 2006.

“Gawli’s application was rejected on grounds that the state government had come up with a fresh notification on December 1, 2015, by which a convict under the MCOCA Act was held entitled to the benefit of the policy decision,” his lawyer Mir Nagman Ali told IANS shortly afterwards.

The state had registered Gawli’s petition on the ground that the 2015 notification specifically excludes the convict under MCOCA from the benefits of the policy.

It contended that even the 2006 notification makes it clear that convicts under laws like the NDPS, TADA, MPDA, etc., are not entitled to the 2006 policy benefits, explained Adv. Ali.

After hearing both sides, the court directed the state to decide on Gawli’s release within four weeks from Friday, paving the way for his premature release from the jail where he has spent 16 years, added Adv. Ali.

Originally based in Mumbai and dreaded as the don of Dagdi Chawl, Arun Gawli, 69, served as an MLA (2004-2009).

He was arrested in 2006, underwent a trial, was found guilty and convicted to life imprisonment in jail in 2012 for the murder of a Shiv Sena leader Kamlakar Jamsandekar.