1993 Mumbai blasts: Sanjay Dutt will surrender tomorrow

Zee Media Bureau

Mumbai: Sanjay Dutt can’t postpone it any further. Convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, the Bollywood superstar will surrender before the designated TADA court in south Mumbai by tomorrow evening, his lawyers told the court on Wednesday. The 53-year-old actor will undergo the remaining 42 months jail term in the Yerwada prison in Pune - he had marked two short stints there in 2007. During his last stay in Yerwada, Sanjay had taken up carpentry, this time round, he may train as a cook, reports said. Initially, Dutt had wanted to directly surrender before the Yerwada jail and had moved an application in the court, however, in a dramatic U-turn, he withdrew the application today and said that he will surrender before the TADA court inside Arthur Road jail tomorrow. Subsequently, the TADA court allowed him to withdraw the application seeking to surrender before Yerwada Jail. Yesterday, the Supreme Court had refused to grant him additional time to surrender. The apex court was hearing a petition filed by a film producer, who sought time for Dutt to complete his under-production films. On May 10, the apex court had dismissed Dutt`s plea seeking review of its judgement on his conviction and five-year jail term. Dutt was earlier granted four weeks more time to surrender to undergo the remaining jail term. The Supreme Court, on March 21, had upheld his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, which it said was engineered by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and others with the involvement of Pakistan`s ISI. However, the apex court had reduced to five years the six-year jail term awarded to Dutt by a designated TADA court in 2006 while ruling out his release on probation, saying the "nature" of his offence 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 coordinated serial blasts that killed 257 people and injured over 700 in 1993.