Maharashtra government to probe repeated grant of furlough to Sanjay Dutt

The state government has said it will probe into the repeated grant of furlough to actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case, after receiving repeated complaints on the same.

Minister of state for home Ram Shinde made the announcement.

Dutt, who has been lodged in the Yerwada central jail in Pune, was released on a 14-day furlough on Wednesday.

"I have information that four to five people have requested for furlough, and out of them, he (Dutt) is the only one who has been repeatedly granted it. We need to find out under which law has he been granted this and, if he has been extended this facility, why has the same law not been applied to others," Shinde said.

He has asked the DIG (prisons), Pune, to conduct a probe and submit a report. "Law has to be equal for everybody, and all will be treated the same," Shinde asserted, adding that it will be ascertained if rules were flouted by certain officials to release the actor.

Annually, convicts lodged in jails can get 14-day furlough, which can be extended by another 14 days, while they are entitled for 90 days of parole. The purpose of parole and furlough is to see that the family members or relatives do not suffer due to the convict's incarceration.