Sanjay Dutt to stay in Arthur Road jail for now

Contrary to the popular belief, there are no immediate plans to shift Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt to Pune-based Yerwada jail, Meeran Borwankar, additional director general of police (prisons) told HT on Sunday. Puja Changoiwala reports.

Contrary to the popular belief, there are no immediate plans to shift Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt to Pune-based Yerwada jail, Meeran Borwankar, additional director general of police (prisons) told HT on Sunday.

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Dutt, who is lodged in a high security prison at Arthur Road jail after his surrender on Thursday, was convicted for illegal possession of arms in the 1993 blasts case and was sentenced to five years of imprisonment.

Borwankar said, “The Arthur Road jail houses convicts as well as undertrials. It is a misconception that he will be shifted to Yerwada soon.”

Usually, the Arthur Road jail is used to house undertrials while convicted criminals are generally shifted to a central prison within the state.

Dutt’s counsel Rizwan Merchant had approached the court on Friday, saying his client was being treated unfairly and asked for rectification of the situation. He said that it was unfair that the actor was holed up in a dark barrack designed for dreaded criminals.

“The actor is no terrorist,” Merchant said. “He has not even been convicted under TADA. He should not have been kept in the barrack that was designed for a terrorist like Kasab and should not have been lodged with an equally dangerous accused in Jundal.”