Click to play videoNew Delhi: Two days of agonising wait later, actor Sanjay Dutt finally walked out of Pune’s Yerwada jail early on Thursday morning.
Accompanied by his brother-in-law Kumar Gaurav, friend Yusuf Nalwala and lawyer Satish Maneshinde, Dutt immediately got into a waiting Tata Sumo and left for Pune airport from where he boarded a chartered flight to Mumbai's Santa Cruz airport.
Dressed in a white striped shirt and faded blue jeans, a hassled-looking Dutt hurriedly got into the vehicle without as much as waving to the contingent of journalists waiting outside the jail.
His hair cropped short and beard grown, Dutt carried a plastic bag containing the clothes he wore when he was brought to the jail. He shook hands with the jail guards before being ushered into the vehicle.
Dutt was released at 0530 hrs (IST) - an unusually early hour - to avoid crowds gathered outside the jail since Monday.
The homecoming
Meanwhile in Mumbai, fans started queuing up outside Dutt's Bandra residence as the news of the actor's release trickled in.
Security outside his house was increased immediately after the news. At around 0830 hrs (IST), when Dutt's cavalcade finally reached there, there was considerable excitement with fans climbing up the boundary walls to catch a glimpse of the star.
Though Dutt's sister Priya Dutt could not make it to Pune to receive her brother, she was in the house to welcome him.
Several of Dutt's colleagues from the film fraternity were also present at the Santa Cruz airport to receive the actor.
During his stint in the Yerwada jail, Dutt worked as a carpenter and earned Rs 204 as wages.
Lawyers to blame
The actor – sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case – was granted an interim bail by Supreme Court last week, but could not be freed for two days due to legal hassles.
The papers related to SC order did not reach the Yerawada jail authorities till Wednesday, where the actor was serving his sentence for illegally receiving guns from gangsters involved in the 1993 bombings.
The snail's pace of the processes and procedures cost Dutt two of his seven days of bail.
A special TADA court in Mumbai, which sentenced Dutt, handed over bail papers to his lawyers on Wednesday, following which the proceedings were hastened.
The Supreme Court usually sends telegraphic messages to the concerned court as well as the jail authorities but because of widespread forgery the lower courts prefer certified copies.
Dutt was granted bail on the condition that he would not leave the country and report to the CBI every week.
Dutt’s passport will remain with the TADA court. A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan granted Dutt relief considering the fact that he was on bail from October 16, 1995 to July 31, 2007.
The TADA court is expected to give a copy of its judgment by August 27. Dutt, after getting a copy of the TADA court’s judgment, will have to surrender before police.
Dutt’s lawyers had filed an appeal before the apex court challenging his conviction under the Arms Act on the ground that the gun, pistol and ammunition which he allegedly got from gangsters involved in the blasts were not recovered from him.
The actor and five others were granted bail by the Supreme Court because they had not been given a copy of their sentences by the Mumbai court that convicted them.
Dutt was the first to be released, and the five others would be released later Thursday, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The six men will have to return to prison once they receive copies of their sentences, which is likely to happen within the next few weeks.
(With agency inputs)
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