• Yogesh Joshi, Hindustan Times, Pune, 

• Updated: Feb 25, 2016 13:47 IST

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt reached Mumbai post his release from Yerawada prison on Thursday morning after serving 42 months for possessing an AK-56 supplied by gangsters behind a series of bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993. Dutt kissed the ground as he walked free from the jail in Pune, after authorities decided to release him ahead of schedule for good behaviour.

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He then boarded a chartered flight to Mumbai with wife Manyata and children Iqra and Shahran. He was greeted by fans at the airport and went on to pay obeisance at Siddhivinayak temple.

From there, the 56-year-old actor went to visit his mother and late Bollywood actor Nargis Dutt’s grave to offer his prayers. He was accompanied by his family.

http://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/702744592643272705/photo/1

Watch | Sanjay Dutt walks out of Pune’s Yerwada jail as a free man

Reports said that he would meet family and friends including Bollywood superstar Salman Khan later in the day. According to ANI, Salman Khan had sent bodyguards to the Mumbai airport to escort Dutt on his trip across the city.

Dutt, with wife Manyata, at the Siddhivinayak temple on Thursday. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo )

A relieved Dutt told media at the Pune airport, “There is no easy walk to freedom, my friends.” He also thanked his fans and said he was here because of their support. He had earlier walked out of the jail with a bag of personal belongings and a file.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Dutt’s sister and former Congress MP, Priya Dutt said, “I would not want to revisit the 23 years of ordeal my family and Sanjay had to undergo. We all want to look forward for the life ahead. But I really wish my father was there to see this day, and we all miss him. Where ever he is, I am sure he will be very happy.”

Read: Now that Sanjay Dutt is out, work can begin on these 6 movies

Dutt was first arrested on April 19, 1993, for possession and destruction of an AK-56 rifle, which was a part of cache of arms and explosives which landed in India prior to the serial blasts of March 1993. He spent 18 months in jail in 1993. On July 31, 2007, the TADA court in Mumbai sentenced him to six years’ rigorous imprisonment under the Arms Act and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000. In 2013, the Supreme Court upheld the ruling but reduced the sentence to five years.