MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was released from prison early on Thursday after serving almost four years of a five-year sentence for possessing weapons supplied by gangsters behind deadly bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993.

The disgraced star touched the ground with his hand and saluted at the prison as he walked free in the western city of Pune, after authorities decided to release him ahead of schedule for good behaviour.

Speaking to a huge crowd of gathered media outside his home in Mumbai, the smiling 56-year-old said his new-found freedom had still not sunk in. “For 23 years I waited to taste freedom. Finally the day has arrived today that I walked out of the jail as a free man,” he said.

“It is still not sinking in... To be fully free is the most amazing feeling.” Dutt was originally sentenced to a six-year term after being convicted in 2006 of possessing guns supplied by mafia bosses who orchestrated the series of bombings in Mumbai that killed 257 people.

He spent 18 months in prison before being released on bail in 2007, pending an appeal.

In March 2013, the Supreme Court upheld his conviction but cut his prison term from six years to five, and the star was sent back to jail to serve the remaining three-and-a half years of his sentence. Fans, friends and family flocked to his house in Mumbai to celebrate, banging drums in the street and throwing garlands around his neck.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2016