'Munnabhai' comes under focus

Mumbai, Sep 12 (UNI) With the pronouncement today of the first batch of verdict by a TADA court in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case, Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, also an accused in the case, has again come under focus.

Nearly Rs 50 crore are invested in movies featuring the 47-year-old actor whose latest release 'Lage Raho Munnabhai'' is doing well at the box office.

Dutt had been charged with having received an AK-47 rifle from extradited gangster Abu Salem, who is to be tried separately in the case. The rifle was a part of the consignment smuggled to India by the blasts accused. He was arrested on April 19, 1993 on his arrival from Mauritius where he was shooting for Subhash Ghai's ''Khalnayak.'' He remained in jail for 18 months before being granted bail by the Supreme court.

If the court of Mr Pramod Kode passed order in serial number as was done today against members of Memon family, listed as accused number one to eight in the chargesheet, then the verdict on Dutt, who is listed as accused number 117, could take time as the court would pronounce the verdict in batches.

Dressed in sky blue shirt and blue jeans, Dutt, was seen wiping his face and forehead in the jam-packed court room located in the premises of Arthur Road jail where he had spent 18 months.

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