Yerawada prison authorities sent Dutt's parole plea to Mumbai to re-verify claim

Sometimes yoursquore given star treatment sometimes you arenrsquot Even as the Yerawada prison authorities are busy filling out the paperwork for releasing Sanjay Dutt on parole in a few days divisional commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh has affirmed that he had sent back the actorrsquos parole application to the Mumbai police for reverification in September this year He made the revelation giving weight to the claim that Dutt is treated like any other prisoner following media reports that some jail officials are starstruck at having Dutt in their midst Sanjay Dutt with wife Maanayata u00a0Deshmukh who is the sanctioning authority to grant parole or furlough to jail inmates in five districts including Pune said that Dutt had submitted his plea for a monthrsquos parole in September ldquoDutt had mentioned his wife was suffering from chest pain and that he wanted parole to be with her during her medical testrdquo said Deshmukh ldquoBut of late we have observed that in many cases inmates submit bogus medical certificates Hence they need to be verifiedrdquo MiD DAY had spotted Maanayata at two parties the night before he was granted parole So Deshmukh referred the application back to the Mumbai police so they could check the authenticity of the medical certificates In Mumbai the assistant commissioner of police ACP of Khar division strongly endorsed the actorrsquos request Deshmukh claimed ldquoThe application came back to me on November 26 with a strong recommendation from ACP Shivaji Kolekar requesting me to approve itrdquo he said Deshmukh said that the divisional commissionerate receives 200250 parole pleas in a year and Duttrsquos was treated like any other and this he said was the precise reason why it was sent for a recheck A major controversy had erupted on December 6 when Deshmukh had approved Duttrsquos parole even though his supposedly ailing wife Maanayata was spotted attending two Bollywood bashes MiD DAY on December 7 had reported on how Maanayata had been spotted at two Bollywood parties the night before Dutt was granted parole based on his wifersquos illness ldquoMy approval for any parole application is based on two things First is the jail superintendentrsquos report on the behaviour of the prisoner and second is the personal verification by the police authority concerned of the reason cited for seeking parole However the recommendation from the ACP was very strong and therefore I sanctioned Duttrsquos parolerdquo said Deshmukh The 53yearold actor was lodged in the Yerawada jail in May after his conviction for illegal possession of arms in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case He is serving the 42month remainder of his fiveyear sentence lsquoCops crosschecked claimrsquo Assistant Commissioner of Police Shivaji Kolekar however claimed that he did not advocate parole for Dutt It was granted only after Mumbairsquos Khar police had verified the truth of the medical certificate submitted by Dutt which cited his wife Maanayatarsquos heart ailment ldquoThe Khar police station officials first went and verified from the doctor treating Dutt that the reason mentioned in the certificate was true To doubly check senior inspector Vikas Sonawane personally went to the doctor concerned to crosscheck thisrdquo Kolekar said adding ldquoAfter establishing that the reason mentioned in the report was indeed true we sent out findings in the report to the divisional commissioner in Punerdquo Dutt to get parole soon Yerawada Jail superintendent Yogesh Desai said that Sanjay Duttrsquos relatives had fulfilled the conditions for securing his release on parole ldquoThe actorrsquos kin have furnished the surety and cash security of Rs 5000 and he will be released soonrdquo Desai saidu00a0