Supreme Court rejects Sanjay Dutt's plea

New Delhi, May 10: The

on Friday rejected the review petition of Bollywood actor

who was convicted in a case related to the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai in which several people were killed.

The apex court reportedly found no merit in Dutt's review petition. The actor will have to surrender by May 16, the court said.

The apex court also rejected pleas filed by all other convicts.

Reports said Dutt's only options now were either to apply for the mercy petition before the Governor or the curative petition, besides of course, to surrender. Senior lawyer Ujwal Nikam, however, said that the actor now had no other option but to go to jail. Dutt can consider applying for mercy after going to jail, he said.

A bench comprising justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan, which had delivered the verdict on March 21, refused to review its verdict on Dutt's plea.

The apex court had upheld Dutt's conviction in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case which it said was organised by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and others with the help of Pakistan's ISI.

The court had, however, reduced to five years the six-year jail term awarded to Dutt by a designated TADA court in 2006 and ruled out his release on probation, saying the nature of his crime was serious.

Dutt was convicted by the TADA court for illegally possessing a 9 mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle, which were part of a consignment of weapons and explosives brought to India for the blasts.

Yusuf Mohsin Nulwalla, Khalil Ahmed Sayed Ali Nazir, Mohamed Dawood Yusuf Khan, Shaikh Asif Yusuf, Muzammil Umar Kadri and Mohd Ahmed Shaikh also filed review petitions.

OneIndia News

(With PTI inputs)