Convicted filmstar Sanjay Dutt will be moved from the city’s high security Arthur Road Central jail to other jail only in the month of June, sources said on Monday.
As the top officials of the state prison department are still contemplating which prison the actor should be lodged permanently, Dutt has no option but spend the remaining days in the high security “anda” cell, which is meant for dreaded criminals at Arthur Road jail.
“We will take some more time to take a call on whether to shift Dutt or not. He will not be shifted anywhere in the near future,” additional director general of police (prisons) Meera Borwankar said.
The 53-year-old Bollywood star was brought to the Arthur Road jail on May 16, following his surrender before the expiry of the Supreme Court-set deadline to serve his remaining sentence in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. After his surrender, there was speculation that be may be shifted to the Yerwada Jail in Pune.
The reasons attributed to the uncertainty as to where Dutt will be finally lodged were because information was still being gathered on number of convicts, security conditions, presence of inmates linked to underworld in various jails in the state like those located in Taloja (Navi Mumbai), Yerwada (Pune), Thane, Nagpur and Nashik.
“The authorities are studying various aspects, particularly security issues, before taking any decision on the actor’s shifting,” a jail official added.
Though there are some convicts lodged in the city jail, usually it is used to house under trials. Dutt has to serve 42 more months in jail following his conviction in the 1993 case being upheld by the Supreme Court, which, however, reduced his sentence by one year (to five years from six) in March this year.