How I broke the Dutt story

It was April 12, 1993, exactly a month after the serial blasts rocked Mumbai. I was working for a city tabloid and was following the Bomb Blast Case (BBC), as it was known then.

Late in the evening, I called YC Pawar, who was heading the investigation team. I made casual enquiries about the progress of the case and Pawar dropped a bombshell. “Apke MP ke bete ka naam aa raha hai,” he said, refusing to divulge more.

I figured it might be Sunil Dutt. However, I could not confirm it since senior officers including the then commissioner AS Samra, were tight-lipped.

Late that night, I called an IPS officer at Mahim and said, “Suna hai aapne kisi MP ke bete ko uthaya hai?”

“No, we have not as he is shooting abroad,” he replied. There it was — my big story. It had to be Sanjay Dutt. I tried to get in touch with Sunil Dutt.

On April 13, enquiries at Dutt’s residence and office revealed that the MP was out of country. I got in touch with Suresh Shetty (now a minister in the state cabinet), who was very close to Dutt, and told him I needed to talk to the MP urgently.

Shetty called back and said that Dutt senior was in Hamburg, Germany. I contacted Hamburg-based Stern magazine photographer, Jay Ullal, who was a good friend of Sunil Dutt.

He said Dutt had left for London and did not know how to contact him. I again called Shetty and told him why I wanted to talk to Dutt. Shetty was taken aback, but promised to get in touch with him, and call me.

Two days went by and I fretted someone else might get the story. Early on April 14, I received a call from Sanjay Dutt, who said he was shooting in Mauritius, and wanted to know about the police case against him.

I told him that his friends Samir Hingora and Yusuf Nulwala had squealed on him. “Oh my God,” said Dutt, and disconnected. Two hours later he called again, wanting to know about the punishment if he got caught.

I told him. If he surrendered with weapons, he would be charged under the Arms Act and could get bail. But if the police arrested him and recovered the weapons, he could be charged under Tada — without bail.

Later Sanjay took Samra’s phone number.

I too called Samra and informed him about my conversation with Sanjay. He confirmed that Sanjay had spoken to him, but refused to say anything further.

I then filed the story, “Sanjay has an AK-56.” The very next day, I received a Rs1crore legal notice from Ram Jethmalani’s office, asking me to prove the facts. My editor stood by me.

For the next five days, the police neither denied nor confirmed the story. On April 19, 1993, Dutt was arrested from Sahar International airport, moments after he arrived from Mauritius.