Dutt gets medical check up in prison

NEW DELHI, Saturday (AFP) - Jailed Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt was given a medical check-up today after complaining that he felt a sense of “uneasiness,” a Press Trust of India report said. The star, jailed this week for arms possession in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts, underwent a medical check-up in his prison cell in western India, the report said.

Pic of Dutt as he was being taken to a jail in Pune. AFP

“There is nothing serious about his condition and there was no cause for worry,” a prison source told the news agency. Dutt's illness was attributed to a “change in environment” which is a normal occurrence with all new prisoners, the source said.

The star, who is from a prominent Mumbai entertainment and political family, was sentenced Tuesday to six years “rigorous imprisonment” for possessing illegal weapons received from plotters of the 1993 blasts which killed 257 people.

The “Black Friday” bombings were allegedly staged by Mumbai's Muslim-dominated mafia in retaliation for deadly Hindu-Muslim clashes. Dutt said he bought the guns to protect his family from Hindu zealots who wanted to wreak revenge for his father's help to Muslim victims of the riots. He is being held in Yeravada Jail near the Indian city of Pune.

On Friday, his sister, ruling Congress party MP Priya Dutt met party chief Sonia Gandhi to explore what could be done to win the actor's release.“We are seeing what could be the best legal recourse for him. Our main focus is to see what we can do to get relief for him,” Priya told reporters.

Dutt's father was a Congress MP and Indian science minister Kapil Sibal has said the party should stand by the Dutt family at this time of “stress and trouble”.