Barring any last minute reprieve, Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt will have to surrender before Mumbai jail authorities on May 16 to 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 B S 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 time 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 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.
"He has no option but to surrender on the appointed day, get in (jail), and then seek relief of remission, which I hope he may get," he said.
The apex court had on March 21 upheld his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case which it said was organised by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and others with the involvement of Pakistan's ISI.
