I am feeling relieved, says Dutt

However, the actor says he would have been delighted if court had given him a clean chit, reports Mustafa Plumber.

"I would have been delighted if the court had given me a clean chit, but…. theek hai," a visibly relaxed Sanjay Dutt told HT on Tuesday, minutes after Judge Kode had handed down a "guilty" verdict under the Arms Act.

Smoking a cigarette along and chatting excitedly with his lawyers inside the TADA court premises soon after the court granted him time to surrender till December 19 on a personal bond, Dutt said, "After 13 years of suffering, I do feel relieved."

Leaning on the Mahindra jeep which was used by convict Abdul Gani Ismail Turk for planting an bomb outside the Century Bazaar on March 12, 1993, Dutt told this correspondent, “During the time given by the court to surrender till December 19, I plan to complete all my pending projects as many people are involved in my projects who would otherwise be unemployed”.

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Dutt spoke for a few minutes till his lawyers informed him that the court had passed an order earlier stopping the convicts and accused not to speak to the media persons inside court premises.

His lawyer Satish Maneshinde said, “We expected a clean chit by the court as the court had accepted our argument that Dutt was not part of the conspiracy and the weapon was for personal defence and the stringent TADA act is not applicable on him”.

Dutt was on Tuesday convicted by the TADA court under the Arms Act where he faces a sentence of minimum five years to ten years. Though he was acquitted of all other charges levelled against him of conspiracy and possession of arms in a TADA notified area.

Before his lawyers could cut short the conversation, a smiling Dutt informed this reporter that he would directly visit his house instead of going to the Siddhivinayak temple as he had done years before when he was granted bail by the Supreme Court.

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