By IANS
Pune : The Ganesh Chaturthi festival seemed to have started early outside the Yerawada Jail here Monday as the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, with hundreds of fans who are eagerly awaiting his release breaking out into frenzied dance, shouting joyous slogans and sprinkling gulal on one another as news of the bail filtered through the crowd.
The area was teeming with not just frenzied fans but also curious onlookers and hordes of media personnel. Many supporters of the actor waved banners and shouted slogans like “Lage Raho Munnabhai”, referring to the film that catapulted the actor to fame.
There was heavy security on the two-km stretch leading up to the prison premises to check any possible untoward incidents.
Kapesh Bamboli, a die-hard Sanjay fan and a student of Wadia College here, has been waiting outside the prison along with his group of friends since 6 a.m. They have been in celebration mood ever since they heard of the actor getting bail.
Kapesh said they would call a music group called ‘Dhol Tasha’ in the evening and the festivities would be similar to that seen during the Ganesh Festival.
He added that he and his friends would wait outside jail until Sanjay was actually released. “If I get a glimpse of Sanjay or an opportunity to talk to him, my lifetime dream will be fulfilled,” he remarked.
Police sources, however, said the actor may not be released until Wednesday.
Youngsters here say they have been practising gandhigiri, as prescribed by Sanjay in “Lage Raho..”, by distributing roses at traffic signals and colleges to garner support for the actor.
However, there was opposition to the apex court’s decision as well. Members of the right wing Hindu Rashtra Sena shouted anti-Sanjay slogans, protesting his imminent release.
But jail officials seemed unaffected. “We have seen him in jail so many times. He is like any other prisoner for us,” said a prison constable.
Convicted Nov 11, 2006, on charges of possessing illegal firearms in the run-up to the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed 257 people, Dutt was sentenced to a six-year jail term July 31, 2007.
He was taken into custody soon after his sentence was pronounced and was later shifted to the Yerawada jail here from Mumbai’s Arthur Road Prison.
He then moved the apex court seeking bail and challenging his conviction under the Arms Act.