1993 Mumbai Blasts: Supreme Court rejects Sanjay Dutt's review petition

NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt will have to surrender before Mumbai jail authorities on May 16 to serve his remaining 42-month sentence because the Supreme Court has rejected his plea for reviewing his conviction and five-year prison term in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

In Mumbai, top lawyers involved in the case said the 53-year-old actor had no option but to surrender and start serving his term before seeking any relief. They said the apex court ruling was "expected" and a "foregone conclusion".

An SC bench of justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan, which had delivered its judgement on March 21, refused to review its verdict.

Dutt, who was granted four weeks more to surrender to undergo remaining three-and-a-half-year jail term, will now have to present himself before jail authorities on May 16.

The actor has got only one judicial option of getting relief from the court by filing a curative petition. Dutt can also get relief if petitions for his pardon are accepted by the Maharashtra governor.

"This is no news. Had he been allowed some relief it would have been news," eminent criminal lawyer Majid Memon, who defended many of the accused in the case, said on being asked about SC rejection of Dutt's plea. "He has no option but to surrender on the appointed day, get in (jail), and then seek relief of remission, which I hope he may get," he said.

SC had on March 21 upheld his conviction in the serial blasts case which it said was organised by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and others with the involvement of Pakistan's ISI.