IANS/Mumbai
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was yesterday quietly shifted from Arthur Road jail in Mumbai to Pune’s high-security Yerwada Central Jail, officials said.
The shift came as a surprise as state Additional Director General of Police Meeran Borwankar had on Tuesday said the actor would not be shifted from the Mumbai jail in the near future.
Dutt’s lawyer had complained to the special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities court a day after the actor’s surrender that his client had been kept in the cell, where Mumbai terror convict Ajmal Amir Kasab was lodged. He had complained that the cell was without ventilation and proper lighting.
Before his surrender on May 16, the actor had been chased by fans and a battery of journalists and was mobbed outside the special court, raising concerns about his security.
However, both police and jail authorities had promised adequate security for Dutt who has claimed to be under death threats from unidentified fundamentalist groups.
The court permitted Dutt to get home-cooked food and medicines along with a thin mattress and pillow for a month but rejected his demands for carrying with him other personal and toiletry items, and electronic cigarettes.
The actor, who was convicted under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case by the TADA court, has already served 18 months in prison.