Sanjay Dutt's Parole Extended By A Month

Pune, Jan 20: The Maharashtra Government on Monday granted a parole extension of 30 days to 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case convict and Bollywood star, Sanjay Dutt. The actor, who is currently on a month's leave from prison, was expected to return to jail on January 21.

The extension has been sought, citing wife Maanyata's ill health.

Dutt had sought a six-month extension of the April 18 surrender deadline to allow him to complete shooting of seven films worth Rs.278 crore.

The apex court, which had upheld the death sentence of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a key conspirator with Dawood Ibrahim in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, ordered that Dutt then to return to jail to serve three-and-a-half years sentence for possessing illegal arms.

Dutt was thereafter released twice -- once on furlough in October and then in December on parole to attend to family-related matters.

Dutt has to serve a jail term of 42 months as the apex court reduced to five years the six year jail term awarded to him by a designated TADA court in 2007 and he had already spent 18 months behind the bar.