Sanjay Dutt surrenders before TADA court

 Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt today surrendered before the designated TADA court in Mumbai to serve a three-and-a-half year sentence in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

Accompanied by his wife Manyata and film maker Mahesh Bhatt, the 53-year-old actor arrived at the court sporting a red ‘tilak’ on his forehead.

As soon as Dutt appeared before the court, the formalities began for his surrender. The court commenced the process for the identification of Dutt, whose conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court recently.

Earlier, Dutt, sporting a white kurta and jeans, left his Bandra residence in the afternoon and waved to the crowd before getting into his car outside Imperial Heights building at Pali Hill in suburban Bandra.

As soon as Dutt’s vehicle arrived near the court, it was surrounded by people, including press photographers.

Bhatt first emerged out of the car and with folded hands requested the media personnel to move away so that Dutt would be able to reach the court. After much persuasion, the way was cleared for Dutt to reach the court.

Several fans of Dutt waited patiently outside the court for the actor to arrive. Police had maintained strong bandobast in the court premises as well as at the actor’s residence in Bandra in the wake of threat to his life.

While Dutt had told the TADA court earlier that he faced threat to his life from fundamental groups, Arthur Road Central Jail authorities received an anonymous letter a few days back saying Dutt would be harmed if he was lodged there.

The Supreme Court, in its March 21 verdict, awarded five years’ imprisonment to the actor for illegal possession of arms. The apex court, on May 14, refused to grant him more time to surrender.

On May 10, the Supreme Court had dismissed Dutt’s plea seeking review of its judgment on his conviction and the five-year jail term.

Earlier, celebrities from Bollywood visited the actor since Wednesday night. Among those who visited Dutt were actors Salman Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Ajay Devgn and directors David Dhawan, Sanjay Gupta and Apporva Lakhia (with whom Dutt worked in ’Janjeer’ remake), Rajkumar Hirani and Milan Luthria.

Raj Kundra, husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, and producers Vashu Bhagnani, Bhushan Kumar and Rahul Agarwal also paid a visit to offer moral support to the actor