Dutt surrenders before TADA court

Mumbai, Oct 22 (UNI) Actor Sanjay Dutt today surrendered to the TADA court after being handed over the judgement copy, ending his nearly two-month-long freedom from jail following grant of interim bail by the apex court on August 20.

Dressed in a blue shirt and jeans and sporting a beard, Dutt appeared before the court with his lawyer Satishmane Shinde at 1100 hrs.

However, he was handed over the copy of the judgement at 1620 hrs. After receiving the copy, Shinde told the court that his client would abide by the SC's directive and hence was surrendering before the TDA court. He had requested the court to allow Dutt to speak to his sister Priya and his daughter Trishala over phone. The same was granted.

Dutt, who was sentenced to six years RI by designated TADA court Judge P D Kode under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai Serial blasts case, had come out of the prison on August 23, after spending 20 odd-days in the Pune's Yerawada central prision following his conviction and subsequent sentencing.

However, the cine star along with other convicts barring those who have been given death sentence, filed an application before the apex court, praying for interim bail on the ground that they had not been given the copy of the final verdict at the time of sentencing.

As the verdict runs into 4340 pages, the Judge took time to dictate it, and then the court officials worked overtime to type the same and make additional copies.

Earlier, the designated TADA court had convicted 100 accused for their role in the serial blasts, which rocked the metropolis on March 12, 1993, in which 257 people were killed and 715 others injured and property worth crores of rupees was damaged.

UNI