As per the present arrangement, the officer explained, Dutt has given the jail authorities the names of two people who cook the food and get it to the jail.
The Yerawada Central Jail authorities have moved the TADA court in Mumbai, stating that allowing Sanjay Dutt to have home-cooked meals in prison is in violation of the prison manual. The petition says that only undertrials can avail home-cooked food in jail and that too, only on medical grounds.
Confirming this development, Meeran Borwankar, additional director general (state prisons), told dna, “We will continue with the present arrangement till the court reviews the petition. Then, we will follow the court’s instructions.”
A senior jail officer from Yerawada jail, on condition of anonymity, told dna, “The prison manual states that only undertrials can get home-cooked food on medical grounds. Dutt is a convict and cannot be given the privilege.”
As per the present arrangement, the officer explained, Dutt has given the jail authorities the names of two people who cook the food and get it to the jail. The officer added, “Then, the person who comes with the food has to hand it over to the jail officer. We check the food and then serve it to him in his cell. The officer waits there till Dutt is done having the food, and then returns with the tiffin box.”
When asked about who supplies the food the actor eats, the officer said, “The names cannot be revealed, but one is a prominent businessman.”
The actor, who surrendered after the Supreme Court denied him relief, was shifted from Arthur Road jail to Yerawada jail amidst secrecy on May 22. He was allowed to have home-cooked meals and medicines by the Tada court when he surrendered on May 16 to serve his remaining 42 months sentence following his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
Dutt was convicted by the TADA court for illegally possessing a 9mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle, a part of the consignment of weapons and explosives brought to India for the coordinated serial blasts that killed 257 people and injured over 700 in March 1993.
The Supreme Court reduced his six-year jail term to five years in March.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}