Sanjay Dutt out on parole

Two weeks after Sanjay Dutt was granted a month-long parole, the Bollywood actor was on Saturday released from Pune’s Yerwada Jail.

Additional Director General of Prisons Meeran Borwankar confirmed the development to PTI.

Dutt, undergoing remainder of his five-year jail term for possessing illegal firearms, part of a cache of weapons meant to be used during the 1993 blasts, was granted parole on December 6.

The 53-year-old had applied for parole citing ill-health of wife Manyata, to Pune Divisional Commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh in whom the authority to grant parole is vested.

However, photographs in the media of Manyata purportedly attending the screening of a film and also a celebrity birthday party that day, had raised questions about Dutt’s claim regarding her illness.

A major controversy had erupted over granting parole to Dutt for the second time in little over a month forcing the Maharashtra government to order an inquiry.

Home Minister R.R. Patil had ordered the inquiry to ascertain the basis for granting parole to the film star after allegations of favouritism and protests outside Yerwada jail intensified.

Earlier, the actor had availed of 15 days leave of furlough, extending it further by another fortnight in October on medical grounds.

Dutt was shifted to the central prison in Pune from Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail in May this year.