Dutt likely to remain free till Sept 27

Mumbai, Aug 27: Cine star Sanjay Dutt, who has been convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, is likely to remain free till September 27 as the TADA court is expected to hand over copies of the judgment only on that day. Dutt and four fellow convicts have been granted bail by the Supreme Court on the ground that they have not been provided copies of the final verdict.

As per the Apex Court order, Dutt and the others will have to surrender after receiving copies of the judgment and, thereafter, they can move the Supreme Court for regular bail.

The TADA court is likely to commence handing over copies of the judgment to all the convicts from September 14 onwards. The Court had earlier fixed the date for today, but modified the order and has now posted the same for September 14.

Meanwhile, Dutt today appeared before the TADA Court along with his lawyers Satishmane Shinde and Karan Singh.

Dutt also interacted with mediapersons present in the court.

''God is great. I have full faith in the country's judiciary. I am also thankful to the media for its whole-hearted support at my time of crisis. I am also thankful to all my fans who prayed from the bottom of their hearts for me,'' a beaming Dutt said.

However, unlike earlier such occasions, Dutt was not greeted by the cops deployed in and around the the Court complex as only yesterday Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R R Patil had ordered suspension of one cop and initiated probe against few others for shaking hands with the Bollywood star after his release on bail from the Yerawada Central prison in Pune.

UNI