Sanjay Dutt Started 'Sweating', Paranoid Of Being Killed In An Encounter During Jail Transfer; Recalls Ex IPS Officer

Former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Meeran Chadha Borwankar discussed her dealings with actor Sanjay Dutt, who was found guilty of unlawfully possessing guns during the 1993 Mumbai explosions.

New Delhi: In a recent interview, former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Meeran Chadha Borwankar discussed her dealings with actor Sanjay Dutt, who was found guilty of unlawfully possessing guns during the 1993 Mumbai explosions. Borwankar had previously written about her time serving as the additional director general of police (prisons). She refuted the claims that he was given special treatment while inside, asserting that it was always in his best advantage to behave himself because failing to do so would have resulted in the denial of his furlough and parole. She also wrote in her book about the actor's paranoia when he was going to be sent to a different jail.

During an interview with popular Video Jockey Cyrus Broacha, she was asked if Sanjay Dutt was 'too nice a prisoner.' Replying to it, the former IPS Officer said, "He used his sources to find out that I’m from Punjab. He embarrassed me a little. But the main issue was the media alleging that we give him special treatment, which we did not. And he was nice generally because his parole and furlough was dependant on his behaviour in the prison. Had he not behaved, we would not have permitted him furlough or parole. Kaam bhi karta tha, beedi aur cigarette bhi khareed leta tha. On the whole, he had realised that here he had better behave.”

When asked if he had helped arrange a show within the prison with his Munna Bhai director Rajkumar Hirani, she replied, "“We were planning a welfare show like Umang, and for that, yes, he contacted… The show was good, but we could not go ahead with it.”

Borwankar also addressed controversies about the actor getting home food in prison. She said, "It’s not a controversy, it’s a fact. When big politicians, Bollywood heroes and heroines, when they land up in prison, they think they’re VIPs. Their knowledge about law is poor. When Sanjay Dutt was in Arthur Road jail, he was an under-trial, and he was permitted home food. Once we were shifting him to Yerawada, after his conviction, from under-trial, his legal status becomes of a convict.”

The former officer also recounted in her book how Dutt's scheduled transfer from the Arthur Road jail to the Yerawada Jail in Pune caused him to become extremely nervous. He needed to be calmed down because he was certain he would be murdered in an encounter.

“Dutt was afraid that he would be killed in an encounter on the way! His fear was so real that he started sweating and complained of having a fever. Meanwhile, news of his move out of Arthur Road Jail was leaked and a huge crowd started to gather outside the prison gates,” she wrote, according to India Today. Borwankar added, “So, we decided to postpone the transfer and withdrew the team that had been deployed. Dutt was counselled against making his shift to Yerawada an issue and it was impressed upon him that his apprehension about an ‘encounter’ was misplaced. Sometime later we were able to quietly and successfully move him and prevented the sober work of judicial custody from becoming a public farce.”

Sanjay Dutt's biopic starring Ranbir Kapoor was made by Rajkumar Hirani in 2018. The film, titled 'Sanju', turned out to be one of the biggest box office hits of the year.