Mumbai, Feb 26 (IANS): Veteran Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar, who shared "heartache" with late actor Sunil Dutt to sort issues when the "catastrophe of Sanjay Dutt's arrest hit the family", is happy that the "Munna Bhai" star has been released from prison.

Sanjay on Thursday stepped out from Yerwada Central Jail (YCJ) in Pune as a free man and returned to his home in Mumbai, finally ending 23 years of legal troubles that began when he was found with an assault rifle reportedly linked to the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

A message from Dilip Kumar's wife and yesteryear actress Saira Banu was shared on the former's Twitter handle on Friday.

It read: "Message from Saira Banu: Dilip Sahab is happy to learn about Sanjay's release. I recall the endless times Sb. spent with Sunil Dutt sahab...when they both burnt the midnight lamp and shared heartache to sort issues when the catastrophe of Sanjay's arrest hit the family."

Sanjay spent 18 months in jail as an undertrial before he was granted bail. Later, after a Supreme Court order in May 2013, he was sent to the YCJ to serve the remaining 42 months of his five-year sentence.