Sanjay Dutt - Illegal Possession of Arms

Illegal Possession of Arms

Due to terrorist interactions, and illegal weapons possession, on 19 April 1993, Sanjay was arrested under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA). He spent 16 months in jail until he was granted bail in October 1995 by the Supreme Court of India. He was later re-arrested in December 1995 and re-released in April 1997 once again on police bail terms. In 2006 the case opened for sentencing for all accused (see below). The period between 2006-2007 saw Dutt spend 7 months in Arthur Road Prison and Pune prison on three occasions for arms offences, although in 2006 Dutt was finally acquitted of any TADA-related offenses but was charged under the illegal possession of arms act.

In November 1993, a 90,000-page long primary chargesheet was filed against the 189 accused in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case including Sanjay.

In March 2006, when framing murder charges against extradited Abu Salem and co-accused Riyaz Siddiqui in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case, the prosecution said that Salem delivered 9 AK-56 rifles and some hand grenades to Dutt at his Bandra house in the second week of January 1993.

On 13 February 2007, the special branch of Mumbai police arrested Abdul Qayyum Abdul Karim Shaikh, a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim and wanted by Mumbai Police Special Task Force for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts from Mumbai. Qayuum had been named by Sanjay Dutt in his confessional statement. Sanjay had said that he met Qayuum in Dubai in September 1992 and bought a pistol from him. According to CBI, the pistol was sold to Sanjay at the instance of Dawood's brother Anees Ibrahim.

On 31 July 2007, Dutt was sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment for illegally possessing weapons. At the same time, Dutt was also "cleared of terrorism conspiracy charges in the blasts" related to the 1993 bombings. According to The Guardian, "The actor claimed he feared for his life after the notorious "Black Friday" bombings, which were allegedly staged by Mumbai's Muslim-dominated mafia in retaliation for deadly Hindu-Muslim clashes a few months earlier. But the judge, Pramod Kode, rejected this defence and also refused bail." Dutt was immediately taken into custody and sent to Mumbai's Arthur Road Jail. As the sentence was pronounced, Dutt was "visibly shocked and was seen shivering and holding back tears".

On 2 August 2007, Sanjay Dutt was moved from Arthur Road jail in Mumbai to the Yerwada Central Jail in Pune. On 7 August 2007, Dutt appealed the sentence. On 20 August 2007, the Supreme Court of India granted Dutt interim bail. He was released after Yerwada Central Jail authorities received a copy of the court's bail order. The bail was valid until the time the special TADA court, which sentenced Dutt on 31 July, provides a copy of its judgment to him. Dutt was released from jail on 23 August. On 22 October 2007 Dutt was back in jail but again applied for bail. On 27 November 2007, Dutt was granted bail by the Supreme Court. He currently has an appeal for an acquittal pending. In January 2009, Dutt announced that he would contest the 2009 Lok Sabha elections on the Samajwadi Party ticket. However, he withdrew his candidacy in March 2009 after the Supreme Court refused to suspend his conviction, the party instead named him the General Secretary of the party. He left the post in December 2010 due to many controversies. One of these controversies included a leading politician of an opposition party Mayawati lodging police complaint against him for offering her a jaadu ki jappi and pappi (a now infamous dialogue from his Munnabhai Mbbs movie meaning a magic hug and kiss) on live TV.