Agencies Posted online: Friday, May 25, 2007 at 0910 hours IST Updated: Friday, May 25, 2007 at 1631 hours IST
Mumbai, May 25: The special TADA court put off on Friday sentencing Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, convicted of buying illegal weapons from gangsters involved in 1993 Mumbai serial bombings.
The court said it would summon Dutt again soon.Dutt, 47, was cleared of conspiracy in the serial bombings of 1993 in Mumbai that killed 257 people, but found guilty of illegally possessing an AK-56 rifle and a pistol.
The special TADA court would decide the fate of Sanjay Dutt in respect to the application filed by his lawyers under the under Section 4 of Probation of Offenders Act, seeking release on basis of his good conduct.
According to reports, the court would pass a confidential order as to whether Dutt will get away lightly in lieu of the time he has already spent a period of 16 months behind bars in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case.
Along with the actor, three of his associates, who have been convicted under the Arms Act for helping him destroy evidence, Yusuf Nulwalla, Rusi Mulla and Kersi Adajania, have also filed pleas for probation that are scheduled to come up in the court on Wednesday.
The verdict, however, is expected to be disclosed when their cases are taken up for sentencing, which is slated to start on Friday.
The Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam has, however, opposed the plea.
Although the actor has been given a clean chit by the court under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (Tada) and specified that “he is not a terrorist”, Dutt has been convicted for possession of an AK-56 rifle and a 9-mm pistol under the Arms Act.
He faces a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of ten years.The heavy-set actor has been on bail since 1995 after more than a year in prison during initial investigations into the blasts.
Dutt is the most high-profile among 100 people, found guilty in the bombings trial, one of the world's longest-running court cases, which ended last year.
So far, 28 people, including five policemen, have been handed jail terms ranging from three years to life and fines for abetment.
Mumbai, May 25: The special TADA court put off on Friday sentencing Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, convicted of buying illegal weapons from gangsters involved in 1993 Mumbai serial bombings.
