In a partial relief to actor Sanjay Dutt, the Supreme Court on Wednesday granted him four more weeks to surrender to serve his three-and half-year jail term in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blast case.
The apex court however refused to allow his request for six months time to enable him complete his pending film projects.
Sanjay Dutt required to surrender later this week to serve the remaining sentence out of the five year’s jail term awarded to him for illegal possession of arms.
A bench led by Justice P Sathasivam also recorded an undertaking by Sanjay Dutt’s lawyer that he would not seek further extension of time to surrender.
The court exercised its power under the Constitution and Civil Procedure Code to grant him the reprieve even as CBI opposed Dutt’s plea saying this would amount to modifying the final judgement by the court on March 21. The court had asked Dutt and all other convicts, out on bail, to surrender within four weeks.
Sanjay Dutt, 53, who was directed to surrender by April 18, had urged the apex court to allow him to finish shooting of his films which will take at least 196 days and submitted that he should be allowed to surrender after completion of films as over Rs 278 crore has been invested by the producers in seven movies.
The apex court had on March 21 upheld his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case which it said was organised by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and others with the involvement of Pakistan’s ISI.
However, the apex court had reduced to five years the six year jail term awarded to him by a designated TADA court in 2006, ruling out his release on probation because the “nature” of his offence was “serious”.
Sanjay Dutt, the son of famous Bollywood couple Sunil Dutt and Nargis, was convicted by the TADA court for illegal possession a 9 mm Pistol and a AK-56 rifle which was part of the consignment of weapons and explosives brought to India for the coordinated serial blasts that killed 257 people and injured over 700. (With PTI inputs)