In his police statement, Gawli said he wrote the chits, addressed to his wife, Asha, when he was detained in Amravati Central Prison under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act. The chits were smuggled out of the jail by a prisoner who was released in January last year.

Interestingly, though the chits are written in Marathi, they are signed in English. Reads one: Asha, Rajala saangun bandyakadun Manish Shahache kam laukar karun ghe (Asha, tell Raja to get Bandya to deal with the Manish Shah matterimmediately).

Goes the second, `Asha, V B kadun paach gheun R P la election saathi de (Asha, take five from V B and give it to R P for election purposes)'.

Five here refers to the Rs five lakh that Asha Gawli had to take from one V B and pass on to Raju Phillips, the Akhil Bhartiya Sena's candidate from South Central constituency in the Lok Sabha elections, according to the police. V B's identity is still a mystery.

``These chits clinch the evidence against Gawli, and he can be put on the mat on the basis of these. Gawli has admitted to writing the chits,'' inspector Vilas Nimbalkar of the Malabar Hill police station told Express Newsline.

Gawli, however, said he could not recall the name of the person who took the messages out of the jail. Prison authorities too have claimed that they don't have a proper record of Arun Gawli's visitors, except for his wife.Builder Manish Shah, a partner of industrialist Vallabh Thakkar was killed on February 2, 1998 near his Sagar Mahal residence atMalabar Hill. A boy washing a car nearby and the building watchman were witnesses to the crime.

Investigations revealed that Shah had been shot dead on Gawli's bidding by Bandya Adivalekar, Sanjay Vichare, Tembya Babu and Raja Jadhav.The police had also arrested, and later released on bail, Asha Gawli and a trustee of the Gagangiri Maharaj Trust at Malabar Hill, Balu Roge, who allegedly plotted the murder. According to the police, Roge fell out with Shah. ``Gawli's men wanted to eliminate Manish Thakkar, son of Vallabh Thakkar and Roge was asked to identify him for them. But he deliberately led shooters to Shah,'' said Nimbalkar. While Jadhav was discharged for lack of evidence, Babu and Adivalekar were declared absconding. Bandya was killed in a police encounter last month, while Babu is absconding.