Sanjay Dutt

Mumbai, May 24: Suspense is building up over whether Sanjay Dutt will break stones in a jail or walk free to star in his Munnabhai series of movies as a special court winds up the first week of sentencing tomorrow.

Special anti-terror (Tada) court judge Pramod Kode has called for reports of probation officers on some of the accused but maintained silence over their identities.

He has also asked Sanjay and his three friends who invoked the Probation of Offender’s Act to be present in the court tomorrow along with all the others on bail.

The judge has so far sentenced 28 accused in the 1993 Bombay blasts case.

Along with Sanjay — accused No. 117 — and his friends, more than 70 others have filed applications for probation. The court has called for reports on their family background, criminal record and behaviour.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, however, wasn’t sure whether the court would sentence Sanjay tomorrow. If the actor attends court, he is likely to miss a Congress event organised by his MP sister Priya Dutt to pay respects to their father Sunil Dutt on his death anniversary.

Union information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and actor-turned-MP Govinda will be present at the programme.

Kode today sentenced six persons convicted over the arms landings at Shekhadi in Raigad in February 1993, including 70-year-old Sharif Parkar and his son Mujib. Both worked as landing agents for the smuggling syndicate of prime accused Tiger Memon.

Describing Sharif Parkar as the “second lieutenant of landing operations” (the other being Dawood Phanse), Kode sentenced him to 14 years in jail for abetting a terror act and fined him Rs 3 lakh.

Parkar, who had arranged secret weapons training at Sanderi Hills and a meeting with customs officials at a local five-star hotel, has already served 14 years and may walk free if he pays the fine.

Mujib was given a five-year jail term and a fine of Rs 25,000 for purchasing gunny bags for the arms cache to be transported. He broke down when the sentence was pronounced.

The others sentenced today include drivers Suleiman Ghawate and Sayyed Abdul Rehman Shaikh, landing agent Sarfaraz Phanse, and Raju Laxmichand Jain alias Raju Kodi, who provided jeeps to transport the RDX and arms from Raigad to Mumbai.

While sentencing Dawood Phanse’s son Sarfaraz, the judge said: “This case is like the ancient Indian saying, ‘son inherits father’s business’.”

Kode said Sarfaraz was part of both the landings in Shekhadi, and “being the son of the main man, he was acting in supervisory capacity”.

Phanse was handed nine years’ jail and a fine of Rs 25,000. He has completed 11 years in prison and will be set free if he pays the fine.

The Arthur Road jail authorities today released two persons, who were the first to be convicted and sentenced in the 14-year-old case.

Rashid Alware and Sharif Adhikari completed their three-year jail terms and paid Rs 25,000 as fine last week under the Customs Act, defence lawyer Subhash Kanse said.