He was provided police escort and the official car as he came out of the Jammu Airport.

Senior Superintendent of Police (Security) A S Bali admitted that the Ambassador car had been provided by his department and the escort came from the Police Control Room. “We have to provide him security as Sanjay Dutt comes from a protected family. His late father Sunil Dutt was an MP, while his sister Priya Dutt is a sitting Congress parliamentarian from Mumbai,” he said.

However, it is the VIP Ambassador which the authorities are finding hard to justify. Bali claims they were under the impression that Priya Dutt was accompanying her brother on the trip and, as an MP, she was entitled to the red beacon. While Priya Dutt was supposed to come, she reportedly backed out at the last minute as she is pregnant.

“The car was sent as we had been informed that she was arriving here for darshan at the Vaishno Devi shrine. We don’t know whether she came or not,” the SSP says.

The state Hospitality and Protocol Department claimed it had no knowledge of the “VIP treatment” extended to the actor —- recently convicted and given six years by the Special TADA Court hearing the Mumbai blasts case. “We have no knowledge about him being given an official vehicle,” said Shoba Ram, Director of the Department.

The Senior Superintendent of Police, Police Control Room, Jammu, Shakeel Beigh, also defended the escort provided to Sanjay, saying they had no choice given the threat perception regarding the family. “Tomorrow if we arrest Dawood Ibrahim, our biggest enemy, there will be one full company deployed for his protection,” Beigh noted.

As for the actor and his friends, having flown down to Jammu on a chartered plane, they left for Katra soon after and reached the town by evening. They were scheduled to proceed towards the Vaishno Devi shrine at around 8.30 pm, but their programme was delayed by nearly two hours following reports of landslides at Himkoti.

Finally, around 10.30 pm, the actor set off on horse back, with full police protection.