Dutt walks into Yerawada's Cell No 3 at midnight

New Delhi: After a two-month reprieve, Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt returned to Pune's Yerawada Jail on Monday hours after the special TADA court provided him a copy of the judgement that pronounced him guilty under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

Dutt reached the Yerwada Jail around 2330 hours (IST) amid tight security arrangements to resume serving his six-year sentence for illegal possession of weapons. He would be kept in cell number three, which falls under the high security category.

Dutt was brought to Yerwada Jail from Mumbai Arthur Road Jail by a prison van. He left the Arthur Road Jail at 2030 hrs and is said to have travelled most of his journey standing in the van.

Dutt surrendered before the TADA court after receiving a copy of the judgement, that runs into 4,340 pages. The Supreme Court, which had granted him interim bail on August 20, had directed Dutt to surrender as soon as he gets the copy of the judgement.

Sanjay, wearing his usual blue shirt and blue jeans, signed the receipt after collecting the box containing the copy. Unlike the previous occasion, Dutt didn't look depressed on Monday. He spoke to his New York-based daughter on the phone, obliged the waiting media with a sound byte and then proceeded to the police van waiting to take him to jail.

"I wish I am at home for Diwali," Dutt said as policemen escorted him to the van. Initially, he was taken to the Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai, from where he was shifted to Yerawada Jail in Pune later in evening.

Dutt's lawyer Satish Maneshinde requested the court that his client be kept in the Yerawada Jail only, but Special Judge Pramod Kode said that was to be decided by the prison authorities.

The TADA court had convicted Dutt for possession of an AK-56 rifle and a pistol under the Arms Act and sentenced him to six years' imprisonment on July 31 in connection with the Mumbai blasts case.

Dutt has already filed an appeal against his conviction before the Supreme Court. His lawyers said they would move the apex court within a week's time for a regular bail.