Actor withdraws plea to go to a Pune temple

Mumbai, Sep 15 (UNI) Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, one of the 123 accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts in the city, today withdrew his plea from a TADA court to visit Pune on Saturday and Sunday to pay obeisance at a temple when the prosecution opposed it on the ground that the accused can not be allowed to leave the city when the court had started delivering judgement in the case.

His counsel Farhana Shah moved the application in the designated court of Mr Pramod Kode, seeking permission for the actor to enable him to visit a Pune temple on Saturday and Sunday, being court's holiday. She said the court had granted his similar petitions in the past and Dutt had visited several places in the country and also abroad.

Dutt, whose ''Lage Raho Munnabhai'' is doing well at the box office, had been granted conditional bail by the Supreme Court in 1997, saying he can not move out of Mumbai withoout the permission of the trial court.

But when the prosecution opposed the plea, arguing since the TADA court had already started pronouncing verdict in instalments since September 12 he can not be allowed to leave the city, Ms Shah withdrew the application.

Dutt is listed as accused number 117.

The court has so far pronounced verdict on nine accused -- eight members of Memon family, and Mohammed Sohaib Ghansar.

Of the nine accused, five have been convicted so far in the case of blast which killed 257 people and left over 700 wounded. They are three Memon brothers and their sister-in-law and Ghansar.

UNI XR SA VA KN1728