New Delhi/Mumbai, May 10
Barring any last-minute reprieve, Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt o serve his remaining 42 months’ sentence with the Supreme Court today rejecting his plea for reviewing his conviction and five-year prison term in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

In Mumbai, top lawyers involved in the case said the 53-year-old actor has no option but to surrender and start serving his term before seeking any relief.

They said the apex court's ruling was "expected" and a "foregone conclusion".

An apex court Bench of Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan, which had delivered its judgement on March 21, refused to review its verdict on Dutt's plea.

Dutt, who was granted four weeks more to surrender to undergo remaining three-and-a-half-year jail term, will now have to present himself before jail authorities on May 16.

The actor has got only one judicial option of getting relief from the court by filing a curative petition. He can also get relief if petitions for his pardon are accepted by the Maharashtra Governor.

"This is no news. Had he been allowed some relief, it would have been news," eminent criminal lawyer Majid Memon, who defended many of the accused in the case, said on being asked about Supreme Court's rejection of Dutt's plea.

However, the apex court had reduced to five years the six-year jail term awarded to Dutt by a designated TADA court in 2006 and ruled out his release on probation, saying the "nature" of his offence was "serious".

Dutt was convicted by the TADA court for illegal possession of a 9-mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle which were part of a consignment of weapons and explosives brought to India for coordinated serial blasts that killed 257 persons and injured over 700 in 1993.

Since Dutt has already served 18 months in jail, he will be required to undergo the remaining sentence of 42 months.

The Bench also dismissed similar pleas filed by other six convicts in the case.

Memon said it was "not the end of the road" for Dutt as mercy petitions filed by various individuals and organisations "may also be taken up any day and decided in his favour". — PTI

Way out

* Sanjay Dutt has got only one judicial option of getting relief from the court by filing a curative petition

* He can also get relief if petitions for his pardon are accepted by the Maharashtra Governor