While it is common news that Apoorva Lakhia was recently hospitalised after being detected with a spine and throat infection, few know that it was Sanjay Dutt who saved his life that day.

Says a common friend of Lakhia and Dutt, "Apu went in for an MRI scan to get the back pain diagnosed. The doctors found a foreign deposit collected on his spine, which had paralysed his right hand. He had to be rushed to a suburban hospital for immediate surgery before things got worse. When Sanju heard about it, he rushed to Apu's hospital, saw his condition and almost broke down. He shifted him to a suite at the Kokilaben Ambani hospital."

The friend adds that it was not an infection in Apu's spine and throat as diagnosed by the earlier hospital. "He was infected with the pseudomonas bacteria which affected his spinal cord. It's a complicated illness and happens during deep-sea diving. Apu had gone deep-sea diving in Thailand in August. That's when he got infected. Apu is still in hospital and will be discharged in a week's time."

A grateful Lakhia gushes, "I am very lucky to have people like Sanju sir in my life. He was a godsend that day."