Mumbai:
Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil has said that the government will investigate allegations of actor Sanjay Dutt being provided alcohol in jail.
"We will investigate reports and will act strongly against those found involved," he said.
Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Vinod Tawde had questioned the law and order of the state and alleged that the actor was being served beer and rum inside the jail with the knowledge of police officials.
Mr Dutt had surrendered in a TADA court in Mumbai in May after the Supreme Court delivered a final verdict on the Bollywood actor's part in the bomb blasts that ripped Mumbai apart in 1993. Mr Dutt, who was sentenced to six years in jail in 2007, had his sentence reduced by a year. He had already served 18 months of his sentence and was sent to prison to serve the remaining 42 months left of the five-year jail term he was handed by the Supreme Court.
He was granted a 30-day parole in October after which he returned to Pune's Yerwada Jail where he is serving his sentence. Mr Dutt was granted two weeks leave on medical grounds on October 1 and an extension of another two weeks on October 14. He had spent his leave at home in Mumbai.
In October while he was on parole, the Centre had reportedly asked for the Maharashtra government's opinion on reducing the sentence of the actor. The home ministry was reportedly following up on a petition by Press Council chairman Justice Markandey Katju to the President, asking that the actor be pardoned.
However, in December he was granted another month's leave from Pune's Yerwada Jail, after spending all of October at home in Mumbai - This after he claimed that his wife was unwell. However, Maanayata Dutt was seen at two separate events at the same time and Mr Dutt is yet to leave from jail.