NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt four more weeks to surrender to undergo his remaining term of 42 months under the Arms Act in relation to the 1993 Mumbai Bomb Blasts.
Sanjay Dutt appealed to the Supreme Court for a 6 months extension to surrender to allow him to complete all his pending shoots of films worth Rs 278 Crore before he surrenders. The Supreme Court granted partial relief to the actor on ‘humanitarian’ grounds, a day before the deadline for his surrender ended on 18 April 2013.
“Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and reasons stated in the petition, we are not inclined to extend the time by six months. However, we extend the time by four weeks from tomorrow. It is made clear that no further extension will be granted,” a bench comprising justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan said.
The actor has at least four films in the pipeline – Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘PK’, K.S. Ravikumar’s ‘Policegiri’, the remake of the 1973 hit ‘Zanjeer’ directed by Apoorva Lakhia and ‘Ungli’. He was also supposed to reprise his role as the loveable gangster ‘Munna Bhai’ in ‘Munna Bhai Chale Delhi’.
The court announced that the Dutt will not be entitled to any further extension of time hereafter. The bench also noted in its order that senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Dutt, has agreed to the same that no further extension will be sought.
Dutt was originally charged with five offences, which included criminal conspiracy and possession of illegal weapons. The designated trial court found him guilty of illegally possessing a rifle and a pistol but cleared him of conspiracy.
The Supreme Court reduced Dutt’s jail term of six years, sentenced by the TADA court in 2007, to five years. The bollywood actor, who has already served 18 months in jail and is currently out on bail, is expected to surrender within the next four weeks to serve a jail term of 42 more months.
“He is thankful but he is still under pressure as to how he can finish six months of work in a month,” said Rahul Aggarwal, the producer of ‘Policegiri’.
