Sanjay Dutt to be released on Feb 25

23 February, Pune

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, who is lodged in the Yerawada Central Jail here in connection with the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case, will be released on February 25, the officials in State Prison Department Tuesday said.

The officials said they have set a date and time for the release of Sanjay Dutt from the jail.

He will be released at about 1000 hours on Thursday like any other inmates, they said.

Dutt (56) has been serving the remaining 42 months of his five year prison term in the jail, following his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, from May 2013.

His full sentence period would have ended in November this year but after being granted remission of seven days per month, he would be released around February end.

The remission in sentence was granted to him based on his behaviour in the jail and good work he has done like working for the jail radio station ‘Radio YCP’, said officials.

Though Dutt’s lawyers had stated in the past that he would be released on February 25, the state prison department had not confirmed any date of release.

A senior officer today said the actor will be released on February 25.

”We will release him sometime around 0900 hrs or 1000 hrs after the morning routine of the jail is over,” the official added.

Asked whether any special security arrangements have been made, Yerawada jail superintendent U T Pawar said Dutt would be released like any other inmate and added that there will be no special treatment.

In the first year of his term, Dutt had stayed out of jail for 118 days on paroles and furloughs, prompting many to raise questions whether the government was granting favours to him.