The murder of Parasnath Pandey in 1980 stands as the defining act of violence that catapulted Arun Gawli from a local brawler into a major underworld power in central Mumbai. Pandey, who ran major matka and liquor rackets, was killed by Gawli, his accomplice and old schoolmate Rama Naik, and another goon, Babu Reshim, a leader of the canteen workers in the Mazgaon docks. The killing was not a crime of passion but a calculated act of business consolidation, executed to gain control of the collection of matka and liquor money in central Mumbai. This single event marked the point at which Gawli's criminal career became inseparable from his political ambitions, and it set the stage for the emergence of his wife, Asha Gawli, as the formidable force who would safeguard his empire for decades.

Background and the Rise of Arun Gawli

Before the murder, Gawli's trajectory had been one of gradual immersion into the underworld. Like his father, he had first landed a job at Shakti Mills in Mahalaxmi at the young age of twenty. It was only when he shifted to Crompton Greaves Ltd in Kanjurmarg that he began to get involved with the underworld, joining hands with his old friend and schoolmate Rama Naik. The two got involved in several local intra-gang brawls, building a reputation for violence that made them natural candidates for a more ambitious criminal enterprise. The murder of Parasnath Pandey was the culmination of this rise, transforming Gawli from a participant in brawls to the orchestrator of a high-profile killing. The immediate consequence was his detention under the National Security Act, but he was released after just a month of custody, and his power and influence grew significantly after his release.

The Murder and Its Immediate Aftermath

The murder itself was a brutal assertion of dominance over the lucrative rackets of matka gambling and liquor in central Mumbai. By eliminating Pandey, Gawli and his associates removed a major competitor and seized control of the collection of money from these illegal operations. The act sent a clear message about the new hierarchy in the area's criminal landscape. The aftermath, however, was notable for its leniency. Gawli's brief detention under the National Security Act, lasting only a month, was a sign of the porous relationship between the underworld and the state machinery that would come to define his career. This early success emboldened Gawli, and it was during this period of growing influence that he met and fell in love with seventeen-year-old Zubeida Mujawar, who would later become Asha Gawli.

The Marriage and the Birth of a Partnership

The murder's most significant long-term consequence was the partnership it indirectly forged. Zubeida, who lived in Byculla like Gawli, had her marriage already arranged with a boy from within the Muslim community. When Gawli asked her to marry him, she accepted happily, despite the opposition of Naik and Reshim, who were aghast that Arun, a Hindu Maharashtrian, was marrying a Muslim. Gawli refused to budge, and finally married Zubeida, who then converted to Hinduism and changed her name to Asha. In her, Arun came to find a dependable aide and a woman who would run his household at Dagdi Chawl in Byculla. Asha initially stayed away from her husband's criminal activities, raising and educating their five children—Geeta, Mahesh, Yogita, Yogesh, and Asmita—while watching anxiously from a distance as Arun indulged in the bloody battles of the mafiosi. However, with Arun being a frequent guest in jails in the city, Asha had no option but to take the reins and run the show by proxy.

Asha Gawli's Rise as the Power Behind the Throne

Asha's assumption of control was remarkably effective. She formulated ingenious ways to protect her husband from the law, including having holes dug inside their kitchen in which Arun would hide whenever the police arrived with an arrest warrant. According to the police, Asha had a pit dug right below the area that housed the gas cylinder. Soon her involvement became so vital to the gang that Arun began treating her as his most trusted lieutenant. Over the years, Asha's demeanour changed, as she shed her shy and orthodox ways and turned aggressive and wily in her dealings. Since Arun's gang members addressed him as 'Daddy', Asha automatically came to be known as 'Mummy'. Her role expanded beyond mere protection. In 1996, when Arun was locked up in the Kolhapur jail and serving time under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA), he mentioned his aspirations to join politics, with the reason being to save himself from a police encounter. The previous year, Asha had stood for the civic corporation elections, hoping her political standing would help her husband, but she had lost terribly. After this, she shifted her focus to her husband's political career. In 1997, with his wife's encouragement and support, he started the Akhil Bharatiya Sena, with Arun as president and Asha heading the women's wing. The women's wing was used as a shield for the don against arrests and police encounters, with a group of women constantly surrounding Arun every time he walked out of Dagdi Chawl. The strategy worked, as the cops could neither trace him in the crowd nor get violent with the women, allowing him to escape unscathed on more than one occasion.

The Legacy of the 1980 Murder

The murder of Parasnath Pandey thus set in motion a chain of events that would define the Gawli family's trajectory for decades. It was the foundational act that allowed Arun to build a criminal and political career that saw him become a member of the Legislative Assembly, a feat practically unique among Mumbai's dons. The murder's legacy is most visible in the role Asha played in sustaining this empire. A couple of years before the Legislative Assembly elections of 2009, Gawli was again put behind bars, this time being tried under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Asha did not give up, filing his nomination papers for him and campaigning alongside their daughter Geeta. While Arun spent most of his time as an MLA in jail, Asha redressed the grievances of the people in the locality, knowing that only their satisfaction could give her husband another shot at the MLA seat. Despite her efforts, the people of his constituency voted against him, and Arun failed to clinch the MLA post. Mummy, however, was not a disappointed woman. For her, the very fact that Arun was safe and unharmed by police forces, even after being tried under several stringent laws, still made her a clear winner. Several top dons like Amar Naik, Sada Pawle, and Nari Khan have been killed in fake police encounters, but Gawli survived, largely because of his wife. The murder of Parasnath Pandey, a brutal act of criminal consolidation, ultimately became the cornerstone of a partnership that would prove more durable than the gang itself, with Asha Gawli emerging as the true power who went out and did everything for her husband, whether it was canvassing for elections, making the rounds of the courts for legal battles, or staging dharnas outside police stations and ministers' offices.