Mumbai blasts case: Sanjay Dutt to surrender before TADA court tomorrow

MUMBAI:Actor Sanjay Dutt will surrender before a designated TADA court here tomorrow in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case after the court allowed him today to withdraw his application seeking to give himself up before Yerwada jail authorities in Pune.

Dutt's lawyer Subhash Jadhav told the special court this morning that the actor wanted to withdraw the application filed yesterday and that he would surrender before the court tomorrow. The court allowed the plea to be withdrawn.

53-year-old Dutt has been convicted under the Arms Act and sentenced to five year jail term.

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.