Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt convicted in weapons case linked to 1993 Mumbai bombing
India’s Supreme Court sentenced Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt to five years in jail for illegal weapons possession in a case linked to a 1993 bombing that killed 257 people in Mumbai.
The court on Thursday ordered Dutt to surrender to police within four weeks on the charge of possessing three automatic rifles and a pistol that were supplied to him by men subsequently convicted in the bombing.
Dutt maintains he did not know anything about the Mumbai plot and sought the weapons to protect his family as riots and threats were increasing commonplace during this time.
The Supreme Court had earlier sentenced Dutt to six years in prison. He served 18 months in jail before he was released on bail in November 2007 pending an appeal in the top court.
The court had earlier acquitted Dutt of the more serious charges of terrorism and conspiracy.
Dutt’s Bollywood career flourished over the past two decades. He gained enormous popularity for a series of Hindi films in which he played the role of a reformed thug who follows the teachings of nonviolence advocate and Indian independence hero Mohandas Gandhi.
