Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, convicted in 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case is now a free man. He walked out of Pune's Yerwada Jail after 42 months.
Clad in blue shirt and jeans, a smiling Dutt was escorted out of the imposing jail gates today morning after completing formalities. He saluted the tri-colour fluttering on top of the jail building as he carried a bag containing his belongings and his inmate file with him.
He also saluted the soil outside the prison before he got into the waiting car. Present to receive him outside the jail amidst tight security were his wife Maanayata and their children, sister and former MP Priya Dutt and her family, film director Rajkumar Hirani, thousands of fans, a huge media contingent from across India and abroad.
Shortly after he walked out, the actor drove to Pune airport to board a chartered plane to Mumbai. Once in Mumbai, he will proceed straight to the famed Siddhi Vinayak temple to offer prayers.
Then he will visit the Bada Kabrastan in Marine Lines and pray at the grave of his mother the late actress Nargis Dutt. On the eve of his release after serving 42 months behind bars, a public interest litigation was filed in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday challenging his early release on remission, alleging that the 56-year-old actor was getting preferential treatment. Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde on Tuesday said the actor will be completing his jail term on February 25, after counting in the eight months and 16 days he earned as exemption or remission on account of good behaviour in prison.
Sanjay spent 42 months, a remainder of the his five year sentence in the Yerawada prison. His stay was mired in various controversies relating to his frequent paroles and furlough which the detractors said was granted to him as special favours due to his celebrity status.
The Bollywood star was arrested on April 19, 1993, for possession and destruction of an AK-56 rifle, which was a part of cache of arms and explosives which landed in India prior to the serial blasts of March 1993.
