Sanjay Dutt's freedom may end Oct 20

By Probir Pramanik Oct 10, 2007, 15:16 GMT

Mumbai, Oct 10 (IANS) Days of freedom for Sanjay Dutt, sentenced to six years in jail after conviction in the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings case, could end on Oct 20 when he has been asked to appear before a special anti-terror court here.

Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Preventive) Acts (TADA) court judge Pramod Kode has summoned on that day all those sentenced in the case relating to the worst terror attack in India on its financial and entertainment capital Mumbai on March 12, 1993.

As many as 257 people were killed and hundreds injured in the blasts that damaged property worth over Rs.300 million.

The judge Tuesday said he would hand over the copies of the full judgement to the convicts on Oct 18, 19, and 20.

The 48-year-old actor was convicted in November last year for illegal possession of weapons ahead of the blasts and sentenced to a six-year prison term on July 30.

He has been out on interim bail granted by the Supreme Court since Aug 23 on the ground that he had not been served with the full text of the TADA court's judgement.

'Sanjay has been given the last date (Oct 20) as he was the last among the 100-odd convicts to be sentenced,' his lawyer Farhana Shah told IANS Wednesday.

'Once the copies of the full text of the judgement are furnished to him and all the others like him who too are on bail on similar grounds, they will have to surrender to the court and be sent to jail again,' said Shah, who along with Subash Kanse was part of the defence team.

Dutt, one of top Bollywood actors who won many hearts by his portrayal of likeable mobster in two Munnabhai films, spent 23 days in prison after his sentencing.

He was first lodged in the high-security Arthur Road prison in central Mumbai and then shifted to the Yerawada prison in western Maharashtra's Pune on the night of Aug 2, as the former houses only under-trial prisoners.

In Yerawada jail, the actor had taken up carpentry as his chosen prison labour and was being paid about Rs.20 a day.

Film industry sources say that the actor had over Rs.500 million riding on him till his bail, and has over the past month and a half managed to complete many of his under-production projects.

Along with Dutt, there are 15 convicts who are out on bail, including a few who have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service