SC to hear Sanjay Dutt’s plea today

Sentenced for five years for possessing weapons illegally during the 1993 Mumbai riots, Dutt wants six more months to surrender to complete his projects worth Rs. 278 crore.

The Supreme Court will hear Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt’s plea seeking more time to surrender to serve the remaining period of sentence in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case on Wednesday.

Sentenced for five years for possessing weapons illegally during the 1993 Mumbai riots, Dutt wants six more months to surrender to complete his projects worth Rs. 278 crore. The actor has already spent 18 months in jail and has to undergo the remaining thee-and-a-half-year sentence.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and MY Eqbal, before whom the matter was mentioned on Tuesday, said Dutt’s plea should be heard by the same bench that delivered the 1993 Mumbai blasts judgment. Justice BS Chauhan would sit with Justice Sathasivam to hear the actor’s plea on Wednesday.

The SC had on March 21 granted him four weeks - ending April 18 - to surrender. Upholding his conviction under the Arms Act, the court had reduced his sentence from six to five years.

Another SC bench headed by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir rejected three other convicts’ petitions seeking more time to surrender on the ground their clemency pleas were pending before President Pranab Mukherjee.

Meanwhile, the SC also dismissed the petitions of five convicts in 1993 Mumbai blasts case seeking review of its verdict. The five are Zaibunisa Anwar Kazi (5 years imprisonment) Kesri Bapuji Adajania (1 year), Yousaf Khan Kasam (5 years), Ranjit kr Singh (9 years) and Altaf Ali Sayed (10 years). A bench of Justice P Sathasivam and Justice B SChauhan did not find merit in their review plea.