Homeward bound: Sanjay leaves Yerawada

At 6.30am on Thursday, Sanjay Dutt’s passport to freedom — transient of course — came in the form of a copy of his interim bail issued by the Supreme Court and delivered by his advocate Satish Maneshinde.

At 7.15am, Dutt, sporting a beard and a striped shirt and a pair of denim, stepped out of the four-foot-something prison door to a street full of media persons and hardcore fans.

Dutt waved to the fans, and exchanged smiles and handshakes with policemen deployed outside the prison for bandobast. In sharp contrast, he brushed aside the microphones thrust at him by the electronic media for some sound bytes and headed straight for the white Tata Sumo.

A charter plane from Pune brought Dutt to Mumbai around 8.30am. On reaching home, he broke a coconut at the threshold of his home. Then Dutt kissed his nephew Siddharth before hugging his sisters — Namrata and Priya. The actor later emerged from his house accompanied by Priya and her husband Owen Roncon.

“I thank all those who prayed for me. I was overwhelmed by your love and could hear you when I was inside the jail, and your love kept me strong,” Dutt told the hordes of fans who had gathered for a glimpse of him.

As the teary-eyed Dutt turned to go back to his house, fans started shouting slogans in support of the actor.