MUMBAI: As Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt walks out of Pune’s Yerwada Central Prison on Thursday morning, a free man, jail authorities will pay him wages of Rs 440 for the work he did during his prison term.
A source in the Maharashtra Home Department said Dutt had been given the job of entertaining fellow inmates as the Radio Jockey on the prison’s in-house FM radio channel. There is already speculation that Sanjay Dutt might be making a film about the life of a fellow inmate, serving his sentence in a family dispute case.
Dutt, 55, will complete his five-year jail term on Thursday minus the eight months and 16 days, he earned as exemption due to good behaviour. In all, the actor has spent four years, three months and 14 days behind bars including 18 months immediately after his arrest in 1993.
Dutt carries his full name, Sanjay Sunil Alias Balraj Dutt, with an inmate number C-16656. He was arrested on April 19, 1993 for illegal possession of an AK-56 rifle, hand grenades and bullets.
The designated TADA court on July 31, 2007 held Dutt guilty under the Arms Act and sentenced him to a term of six years and a Rs 25,000 fine and, if not paid, a further extension of term by six months. Later, the Supreme Court, on May 16, 2013, reduced the term to five years.
After the TADA court sentencing and before the SC verdict in 2013, Dutt was released from the jail on a personal bond on August 23, 2007.
He was again arrested on October 22, 2007 and later released on personal bond on November 29, 2007. The actor was yet again arrested on May 16, 2013.
During his term, Dutt was granted parole in December 2013 for 90 days, and again on August 26, 2015 for 30 days. Besides this he had earned 44 days of leave.