Sanjay Dutt tense, celebrity status likely to ditch him

New Delhi, April 16:

actor

might be upset over the

's verdict which is expected to be delivered on Wednesday, April 17. It seems that the celebrity status of the actor may not help him to woo the court in connection with his plea to postpone the date of surrender.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan, who had passed the judgement in the 1993 Bombay blasts case, will hear the plea which was filed by the 53-year-old actor. Dutt urged the court to grant him more time to surrender before a Bombay court in connection with 1993 blasts.

Meanwhile, the Supreme court on Tuesday, April 16 dismissed the petition of three other convicts seeking extension of time to surrender.

The convicts are - Zaibunnisa Anwar Kazi (70), Issaq Mohd Hajwane (76) and Shariff Abdul Gafoor Parker (88) alias Dadabhai.
The apex court had upheld Dutt's conviction on March 21 asking him to surrender on or before April 18, 2013. His jail sentence was, however, reduced from six to five years.

Dutt, son of late actor-turned-politician Sunil Dutt, has already served 18 months in jail and will now have to spend another three-and-half-years in jail. His counsel urged the court to release him on probation, considering his past conduct and involvement with charitable and social work.

Dutt's imprisonment is also expected to give a blow to the film industry for many of his films are currently under production.

Dutt moved his petition on similar grounds like Zaibunissa Kazi, another convicted of possessing illegal arms and ammunition and also under the stringent TADA Act, arguing that their punishment should be kept in abeyance until the Maharashtra Governor or the President of India decided on the pardon.

The 71-yearpold Zaibunissa's five-year sentence announced by the Bombay High Court was upheld by the Supreme Court. The apex court had said that all convicts should surrender within four weeks of its upholding the high court judgment.

A special TADA court had convicted 100 people in the serial blasts case in which 250 people were killed and over 700 were injured.

Dutt was convicted of illegal possession of arms in November 2006 but was acquitted of more serious charges of criminal conspiracy under the TADA, the now-defunct terror law.
OneIndia News