Dutt donates Rs1L to cancer patient

MUMBAI: Ashraf Ansari, a cherubic seven-year-old with blood cancer, with no mother and a handcart-puller father who is HIV-positive, smiles impishly as the sun catches his eye.

He is standing in a crowded lane behind Crawford Market, which leads up to his tiny house in the Falton Road slum in Mumbai.

The sun was close to setting but hopes have just risen for the little boy whose cancer was detected barely two months ago.

On Saturday, actor Sanjay Dutt donated Rs 1 lakh, no questions asked, towards Ashraf's medical treatment at Tata Memorial Hospital.

He was willing to cover the entire estimated cost of Rs 1.5 lakh but diverted Rs 50,000 to another needy cancer patient, a 21-year-old domestic help, Megha Chowgule, who was planning to avoid taking treatment as she did not want to burden her gardener father.

Ashraf has no clue who Sanjay Dutt is, but loves to see 'Munnabhai' on VCD.

Asked which character he likes, he says 'Munnabhai'.

The child's uncle, who delivers meat to a Worli resident, spoke about Ashraf to a patron, who in turn informed a friend.

Then, Shivkumar Menon, a corporate executive, swung into action by sending out an SMS plea for Ashraf.

The SMS relay resulted in over Rs 25,000 being generated within hours and one, which went through to Dutt, finally ended the chain.

The actor, incidentally, has been helping cancer patients through the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation.