Mumbai: Don-turned-politician, Arun Gawli's police custody was today extended till May 20 by the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court, in connection with an extortion case.

After the arrest, police booked him under the stringent MCOCA along with six others including Gawli's brother Vijay Ahir.

Special judge M R Puranik was hearing the police's application seeking extension of Gawli's custody.

Prosecutor Kalpana Chavan argued that the police needed to further investigate the matter and so Gawli's custody was necessary, which the court accepted.

The police had also already recorded the confession of three accused persons in the case, she further told the court.

Meanwhile, the court remanded the other four accused to judicial custody and two were already in judicial custody.

Defence advocate Harshad Ponda along with Thakur Tegbahadur Singh had opposed Gawli's extension in police custody, arguing that the police was using custody in this case to investigate other cases against him.

The court, however, extended the police custody.

Ahir, today, filed an application stating that he was granted bail by the lower court, which was not cancelled. Instead, he had been re-arrested. He sought that he sould be released on the earlier bail as he had been attending the concerned police station, in accordance with the magistrate court's direction.

Source : PTI