Indian actor to spend 6 years in prison

2 months ago Sanjay Dutt, Bollywood actor, was released on bail. And on Monday he returned to custody to resume serving a six year sentence for illegal weapons possession.

Photo: Indian actor to spend 6 years in prison

Judge Pramod Kode issued sentencing papers to Dutt, who handed himself over to authorities immediately.

"The Supreme Court said I should surrender after I get a copy of the court order, so I am surrendering," Dutt told the special court in Mumbai, which was set up to deal with cases connected to a 1993 bombing that killed 257 people in the western India city.

Dutt was sentenced to six years in prison on July 31 for possessing three automatic rifles and a pistol that had been supplied to him by men subsequently convicted in the 1993 bombing.

He was held at Yerwada Prison in Pune, a city near Mumbai, but released on August 22 on a technicality - because the court had still not issued sentencing papers. The delay occurred because the judgment, which ran to 4,340 pages, needed to be issued to all 100 people convicted in the case.

Dutt is appealing his sentence in the Supreme court.

The actor's case was part of a sprawling Mumbai bombings trial that has dragged on for 12 years. He maintains he knew nothing about the bomb plot and that he asked for the guns to protect his family - his mother was Muslim, and his father, Hindu - after receiving threats during sectarian riots in Mumbai.

He was acquitted of more serious terrorism and conspiracy charges.