PUNE, India (AP) – Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt walked out of jail early today, shaking hands with police and waving to photographers as he was released on bail after 22 days in prison, a jail official said.

Dutt was released early in the morning to avoid the large crowds gathered outside the jail since Monday, when India’s Supreme Court ordered his temporary release on a technicality.

The actor was sentenced to six years in prison on July 31 for illegal possession of weapons supplied by men convicted of involvement in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts that killed 257 people.

Dutt and five others, convicted in the same case, were granted bail because they had not been given a copy of their sentences by the Mumbai court that convicted them.

“I have full faith in the law and I will abide by whatever the decision of the court is,” Dutt told TV cameras gathered outside the gates of his home. “I have a long battle ahead. Please pray for me.”

Dutt was the first to be released, and the five others were to be released later today, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

In the last three days, crowds outside the jail at times swelled to several hundred people as fans skipped school and others shut down their businesses in hopes of catching a glimpse of the actor.

The six men will have to return to prison once they receive copies of the sentence, which is likely to happen in the next few weeks.

The actor was convicted in November of illegally possessing three automatic rifles and a pistol supplied by men involved in the blasts. He was acquitted of more serious terrorism charges relating to the bombings. His lawyers are appealing the sentence.

Dutt said he needed the weapons to protect his family.

He already has served 18 months in jail after his 1994 arrest and had been out on bail for 12 years.

The series of bombings were believed to have been acts of revenge for the demolition of a 16th-century mosque by Hindu nationalists in northern India in 1992. After the demolition, religious riots erupted, leaving more than 800 dead, most of them Muslims.