"On April 13, enquiries at Sunil Dutt's residence and office revealed that the MP was out of the 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 Jay Ullal, a Hamburg-based Stern magazine photographer, who was a good friend of Sunil Dutt.
Ullal said that 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 back.
"Two days went by and I was worried that someone else might get the story. But patience paid off. 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 what was in store for him if he got caught. I told him that if he surrendered with the 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.
