Sanjay Dutt's fate to be decided today

Mumbai, July 31: Fate of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt will be decided today, as the court will pronounce the quantum of punishment in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

Dutt, convicted for possessing illegal weapon in the case, will appear before Judge P D Kode in a special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court.

Dutt's friends, Kersi Adajenia, Russi Mulla and Yusuf Nullwala, convicted under the Arms Act, are also schedule to be sentenced today.

All four of them have applied for relief under the Probation of Offenders Act.

According to the Act, a person convicted of any offence other than the one punishable with death or life imprisonment, can be released on probation instead of serving the sentence in prison.

Dutt has already spent nearly 15 months, as an under-trial before being released on bail in 1996.

On November 28, the TADA court found Dutt guilty under the Arms Act and not the TADA Act.

Minimum sentence for the charges under which Dutt has been found guilty is three years. The 15 months (from July 4, 1994 to October 16, 1995) that Dutt has already served in jail will be deducted from the sentence.

Dutt was booked for possessing an AK-56 rifle that had come in a consignment of arms and explosives meant for use in the Mumbai serial blasts that killed 257 people.

Dutt had admitted to the charges in his confession made shortly after his arrest in on April 22, 1993. But later he retracted the same.

He had confessed that underworld don Abu Salem visited his Pali Hill home in January 1993. Samir Hingora and Hanif Kadawala, the two close associates of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and proprietors of Magnum Video brought Salem to his home, he had said.

He further said that out of the three AK-56 rifles brought by Salem and some magazines and 250 rounds, he kept only one AK-56 rifle.

Dutt said that he needed the weapons to protect his family as threatening calls were received during the 1992-93 Mumbai riots. In spite of repeated complaints, he said, there was no police protection given to him or his family.

But when he heard about the blasts and the arrests of Samir and Hanif, he asked his friend Yusuf Nulwalla to destroy the gun.

The Court has already awarded sentences to two convicts who had supplied arms to Dutt.

On June 1, Samir Hingora - the man who supplied AK-56 rifle to film Dutt - was awarded nine years' rigorous imprisonment. While, Dhakla who removed the rifle from Dutt's house, was awarded 10 years imprisonment.

Ninety-six of the total hundred convicts in the blasts have been sentenced to various punishments so far. These include 12 death raps and 20 life terms.

ANI>