Actor Sanjay Dutt has been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for six years for illegal possession of weapons that were given to him by associates of gangster Dawood Ibrahim ahead of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.
Dutt, who spent 16 months in prison after his arrest in April 1993 and was free on bail, was also fined Rs 25,000 by the special TADA court of Judge P D Kode.
The court rejected Dutt's application seeking exemption from a prison term under the Probation of Offenders (POA) Act.
Dutt, who was seated in the back of the court when the sentence was announced, was visibly shocked as the judge gave the reasoning for his decision not to grant him relief under the POA Act.
After pronouncing the sentence, the court cancelled the bail granted to Dutta and told police to take him into custody.
Dutt was convicted in November last year under the Arms Act for the illegal possession of a 9mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle but was acquitted of more serious terrorism charges under the stringent TADA law.
Initially, the court granted Dutt's associate Rusi Mulla benefit under the POA Act but then announced that the actor and two others would not be eligible to get relief under the same law.
The court observed that Dutt had not merely committed a criminal act but also told three others to commit criminal acts on his behalf.
After a court clerk read out the sentence, Dutt was seen chatting with fellow convicts and friends Yusuf Nulwalla and Kersi Adajania.
While Yuusf Nulwalla has been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years under the Arms Act for aiding Dutt to dispose of AK-56 rifle.
Dutt, who spent 18 months in jail in two spells during the trial, was convicted under sections 3 and 7 read with section 25(1-A)(1-B) of the Arms Act, for possessing an AK-56 rifle and a 9mm pistol.
Trial of Mumbai serial blasts case ends
The curtains came down on Tuesday on the marathon and sometimes dramatic trial of the 1993 serial blasts case with the sentencing of the last of the 100 convicts, including Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt.
The trial, which began in 1994 in a high-security makeshift courtroom in Arthur Road Jail, saw 12 people being awarded death sentences -- the highest in any single criminal case.
Yaqub Memon, a brother of the blasts mastermind Tiger Memon, was among the dozen given capital punishment.
Twenty others were sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge P D Kode, who took over the case from Judge J N Patel in 1996.
A total of 123 people were named as accused in the case and 100 of them were convicted.
Of the convicts, 47 were charged with -- among other things -- being party to the conspiracy to carry out the deadly blasts on 12th March, 1993 that killed 257 people and injured 713.
The CBI, which took over the probe into the attacks 10 months after the blasts rocked the megapolis, had sought the death penalty for 44 conspirators, including three members of the Memon family -- Tiger Memon's brothers Yaqub, Essa and Yusuf.
Judge Kode sentenced Essa and Yusuf to life imprisonment in view of their ill-health.
Kode, who has reportedly not missed a single day of work till June this year, when he slipped in his bathroom and fractured his arm, became the only judge to get an insurance cover of Rs 25 lakh in view of the sensitivity of the case.
He also enjoys Z-category security cover.
Following is the chronology of events leading to actor Sanjay Dutt's conviction under the Arms Act in the 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai.
19th April, 1993 : Sanjay picked up by Mumbai Crime Branch from airport after his arrival from Mauritius. He is arrested on the same day on charges of possessing an AK-56 rifle, a 9mm pistol and some ammunition and later destroying them.
28th April, 1993 : Sanjay makes confession before police
5th May 1993 : He is granted interim bail by Bombay High Court subject to confirmation by the trial court.
4th Nov 1993 : Chargesheet filed against Sanjay
4th July 1994 : Trial court cancels his bail and he is arrested again
20th Nov 1994 : Sanjay retracts confession
22nd July 1995 : Sanjay permitted by court to meet his model friend Rhea Pillai whom he later married. Sanjay visits Rhea in a flat where she is recuperating from an illness.
11th Sept 1995 : Trial court rejects Sanjay's bail.
16th Oct 1995 : Supreme Court grants him bail on hearing a letter written by him to the Chief Justice from jail. The letter as converted into a petition
18th Oct 1995 : Dutt released from prison after 15 months
28th Nov 2006 : Sanjay is cleared by the TADA court of charges under the TADA Act as well as conspiracy in the 1993 blasts but convicted under the Arms Act for possessing an AK-56 rifle and a 9mm pistol. Gets time till 19th December to surrender
18th Dec 2006 : Dutt files application under Probation of Offenders Act for suspension of sentence and release on probation
19th Dec 2006 : Gets time till 21st December to surrender
21st Dec 2006 : Time to surrender extended upto 18th January
18th Jan 2007: Court hears arguements on Sanjay's plea under Probation of Offenders Act
31st July 2007: Sanjay Dutt sentenced to six years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000. Taken into custody.
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