Daddy’s boys miss Mummy

With only Gawli’s old mother as family, she was forced to do the rounds of courts and jails where she met other members of the gang and soon came to be known as Mummy. Her elevation to the top slot in the gang had also a lot to do with her husband’s insecurity. While Gawli always projected his henchmen as the people in control of gang’sactivities, he always held the reins tightly.

Earlier it was Ashok Chawdhary alias Chhota Babu and then Sada Pawle. Chhota Babu, in fact, was a trusted aide of Gawli and had considerable clout in the gang. However, he broke Gawli’s trust and paid with his life. Gawli was never to trust anybody after that and it soon became clear that in his absence Asha would command. However, he continued to rely on Sada Pawle for execution of major operations.

Her position in the gang was amply demonstrated during the Akhil Bharatiya Sena’s morcha early last year when the top cadre bowed before her. After Pawle’s death on September last year, the next in the line of command Sunil Ghate soon surrendered to the police fearing he would be killed in an encounter, and Asha, now mother of two – Geeta and Yogita – took complete control of the gang. Part of her empire were five wings of the gangs with independent areas of operation.

If police are to be believed she used to receive instructions from Gawli. According tosources, though Gawli had trusted henchmen like Sharad Bandve, Dilip Kulkarni, Mohan Mali, Bandya Adilkar, Raja Jadhav and Bandya Achivadekar they were not capable of handling the gang’s activities.

However, Asha’s arrest may be a temporary setback for the gang. Senior officers said that unlike other underworld gangs that hired killers from other states, Gawli has a committed cadre and runs his gang like a company.

There are over 300 members in the outfit, who are paid regularly. The average monthly income of the gang was around Rs 50 lakh early last year when Pawle was in-charge of gang’s finances. The don’s share came to about Rs 5 lakh.