SC upholds life sentence awarded to gangster-turned-politician Pappu kalani

The Supreme Court today upheld the life sentence given to Ulhasnagar gangster-turned-politician Pappu Kalani for murdering a BJP worker.

Kalani had approached the Supreme Court challenging a Kalyan Sessions court order that had convicted him and three of his accomplices for the murder of Inder Bhatija. Inder was gunned down in 1999 in Ulhasnagar in spite of having a police bodyguard. Inder was a prime witness and complainant in the murder of his brother Ghanshyam, who was also allegedly killed by kalani’s men in 1990.

In 2013, the Kalyan Sessions Court found Kalani and his accomplices guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Kalani’s appeal in the Bombay High Court filed in 2014 was rejected and his sentence was upheld by the High Court.

On Tuesday, his appeal against life sentence was also rejected by the Supreme Court. Kalani’s writ runs large in Ulhasnagar in Thane which he once dominated extensively through muscle power. A former MLA from the Congress party, it was former Congress Chief Minister Sudhakarrao Naik who put a stop to Kalani’s activities by having him arrested in 1992.

In fact Pappu’s entire family has been involved in a number of criminal cases. Pappu’s wife Jyoti, a former Mayor of Ulhasnagar, has faced cases of intimidation and forgery. Their son Omi is an accussed in several assault and extortion cases. Pappu’s brother Narayan also has been accused in a number of murder cases.