Sanjay Dutt's fate hangs in balance

Mumbai: Actor Sanjay Dutt's sentence in the 1993 Mumbai blasts could be decided on Thursday, when he appears before Tada court Judge P D Kode.

Of the 100 people found guilty in the serial blasts case, the judge has sentenced 73 till now.

Dutt, who spent nearly 16 months as an under-trial before being released in 1996 on bail, has been found guilty of illegal possession of arms but was absolved of the more serious charges of conspiracy.

Dutt and his three friends, Kersi Adajenia, Russi Mulla and Yusuf Nullwala are among the 27 yet to sentenced and all four of them have applied for relief under the Probation of Offenders Act.

Judge Kode has received the report of the probation officer though the contents were not disclosed during the last hearing.

Last week, nine of those accused who were out on bail were asked to appear in court on June 14.

Those expected to appear in court apart from Dutt are, Kersi Adajenia, Russi Mulla, Yusuf Nullwala, dismissed Customs collector S K Thapa, Imtiyaz Gawate (an aide of Tiger Memon), and three women convicts Rubina Memon, Zaibunissa Qazi and Mubina Bhiwandiwala. Thapa and Gawate are suffering from various ailments.

The people accused of planting bombs in the serial blast will also face sentencing on Thursday. They include: Mohammed Shoeb Ghasar, Asgar Mukadam, Shahnawaz Qureshi, Abdul Gani Ismail Turk, Parvez Nasir Shaikh, Nasim Bharmare and Mohammed Iqbal Shaikh, Mustaq Tarani and Mohammed Farooq Pawale.

They have all been accused of being part of the conspiracy and planting bombs at different places in Mumbai before March 12, 1993.

The three Memon brothers, Yakub, Essa and Yusuf, will also be sentenced in court on Thursday.

The designated Tada court began sentencing the accused in the case from May 18.

Among those who have already been sentenced, on June 1, Samir Hingora – the man who supplied AK-56 rifle to film Dutt - was given nine years' rigorous imprisonment in the case.

The court also sentenced Nasir Dhakla - the man who removed the rifle from Dutt's house - to 10 years imprisonment.

Dutt, other accused in the case say, has got away lightly. He has been convicted under the under the Arms Act for keeping an AK-56 rifle and a 9-mm pistol, which were part of the arms consignment used in the blasts.