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Indian Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt released from jail

Xinhua, February 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Indian film star and Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was released from a jail Thursday after serving 42 months in the prison, officials said.

Dutt was lodged at Yerawada Jail in India's western city of Pune in Maharashtra as part of his five-year jail term sentence after being convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

"Dutt was released from the jail this morning and the actor left by a charter plane for Mumbai," an official said.

The 56-year-old Dutt was convicted for illegally possessing arms, which according to officials was part of cache of arms and explosives that landed in India prior to the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. At least 257 people were killed and 713 others wounded in the blasts.

In 2006, a special anti-terror court convicted 100 people for the blasts. Twelve were given the death penalty and 20 others sentenced for life. Dutt was the most high-profile among the convicts.

India's Supreme Court upheld his conviction in March 2013 and ruled that Dutt must return to prison. However, the court reduced his sentence from the earlier six years to five.

Initially he was arrested on April 19, 1993 and later again he was taken to prison in May 2013 to undergo the remainder of his sentence.

Dutt was released around eight months ahead of time, the reprieve that according to officials was granted to him on grounds of good behaviour inside jail.

On Wednesday a petition was filed in the Bombay High Court challenging Dutt's early release. The petition alleged that the actor got preferential treatment when he was in jail.

Dutt's parents, Sunil Dutt and Nargis, were also film starts. He gained popularity among Indian fans for his role as gangster in a series of movies.

Earlier Dutt's frequent breaks from jail had been criticised as evidence of preferential treatment.

Between May 2013 and 2014, Dutt spent over 118 days out of prison.

However, India's news agency Press Trust of India quoted Yerawada Jail Superintendent U T Pawar saying Dutt's remission was worked out in compliance with jail rules and he was treated like any other convict. Endit