Film actor Sanjay Dutt on Thursday surrendered in the special TADA court here amid extensive media exposure and taut security arrangements.
Dutt, a convict in 1993 Bombay bomb blasts case was booked under the Arms act for illegal possession of weapons and the Supreme Court sentenced him to five-year imprisonment. The actor reached the court in the afternoon along with his wife Manyata, sister and Congress MP Priya Dutt, brothers in law Owen Roncon and Kumar Gaurav, film director and producer Mahesh Bhatt and his friends in a convoy of more than seven cars.
The actor was received at the court by large number of media personnel , as a result of which he could not get out of the car for almost 15 minutes. It was only after the intervention by police authorities, that the actor was able to enter the court premises. He later informed the court that he suffered blow in his stomach, due to the overenthusiastic media personnel.
ADVERTISEMENT
Four other convicts namely Abdul Memon, Altaf Sayed, Yusuf Nulwalla and Kersi Adajania also surrendered in front of the same court on Thursday. Isaaq Hajwane, one of the convicts was passed away earlier this month, while Shariff Parkar, another convict suffered cardiac arrest two days ago and is currently admitted in the hospital. The court will take the decision on his petition to extend the date of surrendering on Friday. While Zebunnisa Kazi, another convict, is likely to surrender on Friday.
Interestingly, while all the relatives of Dutt were allowed inside the court room by police authorities, Faisal Parkar, son of the Shariff Parkar was not allowed inside, citing security reasons.
Dutt’s lawyer Rizwan Merchant moved an application in front of court seeking permission to give several amenities to the actor inside the jail. “The actor suffers from high cholesterol and arterial stenosis. He needs medication and thin mattress to sleep on and it’s not luxury,” said the lawyer. Among the other things requested by actor include home made food, pillow, undergarments, fan and electronic cigarettes.
ADVERTISEMENT
The lawyer argued that, Dutt is a chain smoker and it will be stopped inside the jail. The withdrawal symptoms like migraine will be faced by the actor hence he may be allowed of electronic cigarettes, which have 15% less nicotine.
The court however, while accepting the other requests for the periode of one month, refused to grant the permission of electronic cigarettes. “I am allowing everything to you, but not cigarettes. You stop it,” judge told the actor. He bowed down and accepted it.
The actor’s lawyer had also asked for family meetings inside the jail, citing the reason of discussing actor’s review petition in Supreme Court. The court however asked the actor to follow the jail manual and refused to give any concession.
Dutt and others were taken to the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai on late Thursday night. All were kept there till the last report came in.
As per the practice, the under trials are kept in Arthur Road jail and the convicts are kept in jails outside. After the medical tests of the convicts they will be sent to different jails in the state, as per the decision of jail authorities.