NEW DELHI: Actor Sanjay Dutt is set to walk out of jail on February 27 after the Maharashtra government remitted his sentence in the Mumbai serial blasts case.
The incarcerated Bollywood actor, whose five-year sentence for his involvement in the 1993 blasts was confirmed by the Supreme Court in March 2013, will be freed next month, official sources told media here.
The sources indicated that barring last-minute glitches, Sanjay would be released after completing the remaining 42-month period of his sentence.
Dutt was acquitted of terror charges under the TADA, but found guilty of possessing illegal arms, acquired ostensibly to protect his family during the communal conflagration that engulfed Mumbai after the demolition of the Babri Mosque on December 6, 1992.
Sanjay Dutt was arrested in April 1993 under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention Act) TADA, for illegally possessing a 9 mm pistol and an AK 56 assault rifle. Dutt’s was the most high profile arrest posts the 1992-93 riots and the March 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai. It was alleged that Dutt knew about the blasts that took place after he bought weapons. But the court discounted the charges and while pronouncing him guilty in 2007.
Following the apex court orders, his bail was cancelled and he was ordered to surrender within four weeks, which he complied with on May 16, 2013 and was lodged in Arthur Road Central Jail.
A week later, he was shifted to the Yeravada Central Jail, Pune, where he has been lodged since then and has earned the reputation of being a well-behaved inmate.
Of the five-year sentence, the actor had already served 18 months as an undertrial and was required to undergo another 42 months, which is now on the verge of completing.
In between serving time, Dutt was granted either parole or furlough on various grounds, attracting a lot of criticism from various quarters, while some prominent personalities demanded his release from jail.
