Sanjay Dutt's furlough extension plea rejected

The Maharashtra government Saturday rejected Sanjay Dutt's application to extend his furlough by 14 days, an official said, adding that the Bollywood actor will return to Pune's Yerawada Central Jail (YCJ) later in the day.

"His application has been rejected. He will return to jail today itself," his lawyer Hitesh Jain told IANS.

Dutt's latest furlough of 14 days ended Thursday, but he did not return to YCJ as the decision on his extension application of Dec 27 was pending.

He continued to live with his family for the past three days.

On Thursday, Dutt, 55, flew to Pune and went up to YCJ, spent a few hours in the vicinity of the prison and later returned home in Mumbai though his 14-day furlough had ended.

The development followed a confusion created by the utterances of some offials that it was not necessary for him to go back to jail till a decision was taken on his Dec 27 application for an extension of his furlough.

Questions have been raised from several quarters about the repeated furloughs granted to the actor, including the latest 14-day leave, which began Dec 24.

Earlier, Dutt was released on furlough in October 2013 for two weeks on health reasons, followed by a similar leave in December 2013 to tend to his ailing wife, Maanyata, attracting charges of favouritism.

Dutt's latest furlough saw him attending a special show of the latest Aamir Khan megahit, "PK", and celeb parties, while exhibiting his new set of eight abs built up in prison.

In February last year, the Bombay High Court had commented on the diligence in granting the actor's requests for furlough which was not visible in case of other convicts who applied for leave.

Dutt was convicted in 2007 for illegal possession of an AK-56 assault rifle during the 1992-1993 Mumbai communal conflagration before the March 12, 1993 serial bomb blasts in the city and sentenced to six years jail.

The Supreme Court had upheld the conviction in 2013 but reduced the sentence to five years, less the time already served.

Dutt surrendered on May 16, 2013, and was moved to the high-security jail in Pune to serve the remainder of his 42-month sentence.