Sanjay Dutt heads to Yerwada jail today after plea for furlough extension falls through

Pune: After seeking an additional furlough of 14 days, actor Sanjay Dutt is reportedly headed back to Pune’s Yerawada Jail on Thursday because the process to get additional time out of jail was not completed in time. According to reports on television channels, the procedure for extending the furlough of the actor hasn’t been completed yet, and so he will have to return to jail. The 55-year-old actor, a convict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case who is presently out of jail on a 14-day furlough, has sought extension of his leave from prison authorities. [caption id=“attachment_2036421” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sanjay Dutt after returning home on 24 December. Sachin Gokhale/ Firstpost[/caption] Dutt, convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case for illegally possessing an AK-56 rifle and destroying it, was released on a 14-day leave of furlough by the Yerawada Central Jail authorities on 24 December as he wanted to be with his family for the New Year. “Ten days back Dutt applied for extension of furlough which is being examined,” a Prisons department official had said. Two days after he was granted leave from prison, the Maharashtra government had ordered a probe into the repeated leaves and extensions granted to Dutt. After conducting an inquiry, jail authorities said they did not find any irregularities in granting furlough to the actor. Dutt’s sentence so far has been dotted with repeated furlough and paroles. Dutt had been given leave of furlough in October 2013 for 28 days on medical grounds, followed by a similar leave for 28 days in December 2013, to tend to his ailing wife Manyata. A controversy had erupted when newspapers published photographs of Manyata purportedly attending the screening of a film and also a celebrity birthday party, raising questions about the actor’s claims regarding her illness. Angry at alleged “favouritism” being shown towards Dutt, activists of the Republican Party of India had also staged a demonstration in front of the Yerawada Jail. Dutt is undergoing the remainder of his five-year jail term for possessing illegal firearm that was part of a cache of weapons meant to be used during the 1993 blasts. with inputs from PTI