Policeman suspended for hugging bailed star

A STAR-STRUCK Indian policeman has been suspended for hugging Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt when he was freed on bail after being convicted of arms possession over the 1993 Mumbai blasts, reports said yesterday.

Officials in the western state of Maharashtra ordered the suspension after pictures of Constable Rajendra Kalekar rushing to embrace the star as he left the jail were flashed on television screens at the weekend.

Eight other constables face disciplinary action for shaking hands with Dutt, released last Thursday after three weeks in jail.

State officials said the embrace and handshakes violated the police manual as well as civil service rules, according to the Times of India.

The popular star was last month sentenced to six years in jail for possessing illegal weapons received from plotters of the Mumbai bombings, which killed 257 people and injured 800 more.

He was freed after the Supreme Court agreed to his release on a technicality after the Mumbai court failed to provide him with a copy of its full judgment. Dutt will be free for another month as the court cannot provide him with a copy of the judgment until September 27.

“Dutt’s behaviour in the jail was exemplary and he won the hearts of jail staff members,” a senior jail official told The Times of India.

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 after his father helped Muslim victims of the riots.