MUMBAI (AFP) — Bollywood bad boy Sanjay Dutt, who is out on bail from a six-year jail sentence for illegal arms possession because of a technicality, could be back behind bars by the end of the month, lawyers said.
Dutt, 46, one of Indian cinema's biggest stars, was granted a conditional release from prison in August after the anti-terror court in Mumbai that jailed him failed to provide the actor with a copy of its judgement.
But the burly actor, among around 100 people sentenced in connection with serial bombings in Mumbai in 1993, was also ordered by India's Supreme Court to turn himself in when his lawyers received the paperwork.
"The anti-terror court is likely to hand out the judgement orders against all accused between October 18-20th," said Farhana Shah, one of Dutt's lawyers.
"Dutt, who was among the last to be sentenced, could receive his order by October 20," she said.
The actor has already served three weeks of his jail term in a high-security jail 150 kilometres (93 miles) southeast of Mumbai.
He was convicted of possessing weapons received from the plotters of the 1993 Mumbai bombings, which killed 257 people and wounded 800.
Dutt has always maintained his innocence, arguing he purchased a Kalashnikov assault rifle to protect his family from sectarian violence.
While out of bail, Dutt has been racing to complete movie contracts, with six movies in production and 750 million rupees (18.4 million dollars) of Bollywood money riding on him.
"Once Dutt receives his order, we will file a revised appeal challenging his conviction and sentencing," another lawyer, Karan Singh, told AFP.
The son of a politically prominent Hindu father and a Muslim mother honoured for her acting, Dutt's turbulent off-screen life has also been wracked by drug abuse and two failed marriages.
source
Comments