'Security threat' puts curtains on Dutt show

It was supposed to be Sanjay Dutt’s biggest draw after he was jailed following his conviction in the Arms Act last year. Instead it turned out to be a damp squib as the Yerawada jail authorities called off the much talked about cultural event, where Dutt was going to perform alongside 49 other inmates at Balgandharva Rangmandir on Thursday.

The entire saga of the cancellation of the event has been much Bollywoodesque with all twists and turns.

While the additional director general of police (prisons) Meeran Chadha Borwankar cited security threat as the reason for ‘postponing the event’, joint commissioner of Pune police (Law and order) Sanjeev Kumar Singhal claimed they had received no specific threat input.

There has been a general alert issued following Indian Mujahideen founder Yasin Bhatkal’s arrest. However, the event was planned and was being prepared for even after that.

Local intelligence bureau (IB) sleuths too pleaded no knowledge of any such threats that were cited as the reason for the literal 11th hour cancellation. Even deputy commissioner of police (zone I) Makarand Ranade was taken by surprise as his men had been at bandobast since 9am and it was only at 11am that he was told that the event had been cancelled.

There were disappointments galore, which included the actor, his director and his fans who had paid Rs1,000 each to see his live performance that was going to last only for a few minutes.
Dutt, according to sources, had cleaned off his facial hair and had coloured his much grey hair, and was eager to be there.

The event director Rahul Solapurkar too was dejected. “We were preparing the background stage from 2am till 6 am. Then I caught some much-needed sleep and was getting ready for a 11am rehearsal when I was told it has been cancelled,” Solapurkar said.
Borwankar insisted that the event had not been cancelled, it was only postponed. She then claimed that the programme will now be held indoors — inside the jail premises where the access could be controlled.

Those who bought tickets will now have to make all the way to Yerawada jail where they will be refunded the money. The Balgandharva Rangmandir management refunded the Rs5,000 deposit and part of the Rs51,000 rent paid by the jail authorities.

Drama outside theatre

As if all this background action wasn’t enough, drama poured out on streets, too. Despite the event being cancelled, activists from Hindu Rashtra Sena launched an agitation near Balgandharva premises, protesting Sanjay Dutt’s participation in the cultural event.

“How can we allow a prisoner to perform in our city? He is supposed to serve his sentence, not sing and dance,” said Sagar Gadgale (21) of the organisation. “We were raising slogans against Dutt when three cops in plain clothes started caning us. There was no warning whatsoever. There were female protesters with us. They were injured too,” he said.

What happens to fund raising dreams?

Jail authorities were hopeful of raising a good amount of money through ticket sale, sponsorships and, most importantly, from Doordarshan that had promised to telecast it live. While Borwankar remains tight-lipped about the exact amount that could have been generated  (maximum, is all that she would say when asked about specifics), she confessed that DD was going to get Rs20 lakh, a big chunk of which was promised to the Yerawada jail.

Various theories doing rounds on why the show was cancelled

Even though Borwankar claimed that the event was cancelled due to security reasons there were various theories that kept doing rounds.

One of them was a mysterious fax that arrived on the desk of ADGP on the morning of the show that talked about the security threat. As per the original plan, Dutt was to be brought to Balgandharva one hour prior to the show and was going to be hurried back to the jail as soon as his part was over. But the fax sent them in a tizzy, leading to the cancellation of event itself.

While IB claimed no knowledge of any specific threat, they pointed it was unethical to raise money through performances of someone like Sanjay Dutt. “It would be insensitive to promote Dutt in a government function. After all, hundreds of people had died in the 1993 serial blasts and though Dutt wasn’t convicted under the Terrorists And Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), he was surely seen as one of the accused in the case. May be it dawned upon the organisers much later and they decided to cancel it,” said an IB officer.