Sanjay Dutt gets five years in jail in Mumbai blasts case

Reuters: The Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt to five years in jail for getting guns from gangsters involved in the 1993 bombings in Mumbai.

Dutt, an immensely popular star, was found guilty of acquiring illegal weapons from those blamed for the bombings in Mumbai that killed 257 people.

“He will have to serve another three-and-a-half year sentence. We had prepared him for the same,” Dutt’s lawyer Satish Maneshinde told reporters.

“We will wait for a copy of the Supreme Court judgement and then decide the further course of action,” he said. “He is a strong man and will fight back.”

In 2007, the muscular 53-year-old was cleared of conspiracy charges in the Mumbai serial blasts but was found guilty of illegal possession of an automatic rifle and a pistol.

The actor was the most high-profile among 100 people found guilty in the bombings trial. The 1993 Mumbai attacks were ordered by India’s most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim, police say.

“Heart Broken: Just heard that Sanjay Dutt has to go to jail for five years. I expected mercy! Alas it did not happen,” film-maker Mahesh Bhatt said in a tweet.