I did not threaten Dutt: Bhardwaj

Law Minister H R Bhardwaj, on whom Sanjay Dutt is suspected to have carried out a sting operation, on Thursday said the actor had met him a few days back to seek his "blessings" and denied issuing any threat as "we treat him like our family member".

Dutt, on his part, refrained from speaking further on the issue, a day after claiming that he had conducted the sting operation on "a union minister".

With his name cropping up as the minister on whom Dutt is suspected to have conducted the sting, Bhardwaj told reporters, "I don't think I threatened anybody, much less Sanjay Dutt."

Claiming that there was "nothing acrimonious" between him and Dutt who is now Samajwadi Party's National General Secretary, the Law Minister said, "What is a threat or what a sting means I don't know. You better ask him what is the sting he has done."

Bhardwaj said Dutt "simply came for a cup of tea and sought my blessing as usual.... We (have) treated him always like our own family member, and on that day also I received him just like a family member."

When Dutt was asked by reporters to speak on the issue on Thursday, he said he had not taken anybody's name.

"I have already commented on it yesterday... I have already said what I had to say.. You ask Amar Singhji, he is the right person," the actor-turned-politician said when pressed by media persons to speak on the issue.