Rat snake visits Sanju’s house

Sanjay Dutt’s Pali Hill residence had a most unlikely visitor on Monday night. A five-foot rat snake got itself into the actor’s kitchen garden.

The actor’s cook, who was the first to spot the reptile, raised an alarm, and the residents called the fire brigade. Officials of the Bandra fire station confirmed that they received a frantic call from the actor’s residence on Monday night asking for a snake catcher.

“I received a rescue call on Monday night. However, it was past 8.30 pm, and it would have been very difficult to catch the snake in the dark, so we had to wait till morning,” said Raju Koli, snake catcher from Madh Island. Since Sanjay Dutt had organised a huge puja in his house, the family was anxious to ensure that the snake was caught.

“The actor has a huge kitchen garden. The snake was in the garden and it even tried to enter the kitchen. I captured it at 11.30 am on Tuesday,” said Koli, who visited the Dutt residence with his 16-year-old son Rockson.

But how the snake found its way up to the actor’s 11th floor apartment in Imperial Heights building is a mystery to the snake catcher.

“I have captured a couple of snakes from the sixth floor, but never from such a height,” said Koli. He said the Dutts insisted that the snake be released in a safe place. The snake was released in a forest near the Killeshwar Shiv Temple in Madh Island. The Dutts, Sanjay and Priya, refused to comment.