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Sanjay Dutt has been released from jail in the western Indian city of Pune.

The 56-year-old Bollywood star was sentenced for firearms offences linked to the 1993 Mumbai blasts which killed 257 people and injured 713.

Sanjay Dutt was convicted of buying firearms from the bombers but said the weapons were necessary in order to defend his family during Hindu-Muslim rioting.

He was moved to the Pune jail in 2013 to finish his five-year jail term.

Sanjay Dutt was recently granted a remission of 144 days on the basis of good behavior and activities like running a radio program.

“His remission was worked out in compliance with jail rules and he was treated like any other convict,” the chief of Pune Yerwada Jail Superintendent UT Pawar told the Press Trust of India news agency.Sanjay Dutt released from jail

Sanjay Dutt kissed the ground as he walked out of the prison on February 25 and was driven to the airport on his way to Mumbai, where he lives.

“I am out here because of their [fans’] support. There is no easy walk to freedom, my friends,” he was quoted as telling reporters by the AFP news agency.

One of Bollywood’s most bankable stars, Sanjay Dutt is hugely popular for his role as a lovable gangster in the Munnabhai movies. He has also dabbled in politics.

The son of a Hindu father and a Muslim mother, Sanjay Dutt said he had bought the firearms to protect his family during the 1993 Mumbai Hindu-Muslim riots, which followed the destruction of the Babri mosque by Hindu zealots in the northern town of Ayodhya.

In 2006, a special anti-terror court convicted 100 people for the blasts. Twelve were given the death penalty and 20 others sentenced to life imprisonment.

Sanjay Dutt, the most high-profile among the convicts, was originally charged with five offences, including criminal conspiracy and possession of illegal weapons.

In March 2013, India’s Supreme Court upheld Sanjay Dutt’s conviction, but reduced his sentence from the earlier six years to five.

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Yakub Memon, the man convicted of financing the deadly 1993 Mumbai bombings, has been executed in India.

Yakub Memon was hanged at a prison in Nagpur in the western state of Maharashtra.

The bombings killed 257 people in Mumbai, and were allegedly to avenge the killing of Muslims in riots a few months earlier.

India rarely carries out death sentences – only three other people have been executed since 2004.

There was tight security around the Nagpur jail on July 30, and in parts of the state capital, Mumbai.

The March 1993 blasts targeted a dozen sites, including the Bombay Stock Exchange, the offices of national carrier Air India and a luxury hotel.

Yakub Memon was hanged hours after the Supreme Court dismissed a final plea to stay the sentence.Yakub Memon death sentence

His lawyers had argued that executions can only be carried out after seven days have passed following the rejection of a mercy petition.

The court opened its doors in the dead of the night to hear his last appeal for mercy, but rejected it just before dawn.

The court ruled that because his first mercy petition had been rejected last year, the execution met the required rules, said media reports.

Yakub Memon, a chartered accountant, was sentenced to death in 2007 by a special court in Mumbai after being convicted of providing financial and logistical support for the bombings.

He was the only one of 11 people convicted for the bombings to have his death sentence upheld on appeal. The sentences on the others were commuted to life imprisonment.

Yakub Memon’s body would not be buried inside the prison compound, and would be handed over to his family once a post-mortem had been carried out.

His case has divided opinion in India, with many calling for the suspension of the death sentence.

Yakub Memon’s brother, Tiger, is widely seen as having been the mastermind behind the attacks, alongside gangland boss Dawood Ibrahim. Both remain in hiding.

Several influential journalists, politicians and members of civil society had sent a letter to the president asking for him to “spare him from the noose of the death for a crime that was master-minded by someone else to communally divide India”.

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Mumbai attack suspect Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi has been released on bail from a Pakistani jail, officials say.

Jail officials in Rawalpindi said Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was released on April 10.

India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh has called the release “unfortunate and disappointing”, India media reports say.Mumbai attack suspect Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi released from Pakistani jail

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who is the suspected mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, had been granted bail in December, but was kept in detention under public order legislation.

He is one of seven men facing trial over the attacks, which left 165 people dead and damaged peace efforts between the two countries.

The violence was blamed on militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group (LeT) which Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was accused of heading.

Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was arrested by Pakistan on December 7, 2008, four days after he was named by Indian officials as one of the major suspects.

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India’s Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Pakistani national Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman of the 2008 attacks on Mumbai.

The judges also rejected his claim that he had been denied a fair trial.

Mohammad Qasab, 24, was convicted of murder and other crimes in May 2010. His first appeal was rejected by the Mumbai High Court in February 2011.

The November 2008 attacks claimed 166 lives. Nine gunmen were also killed.

“In view of the nature of the gravity of his crime and the fact that he participated in waging war against the country, we have no option but to uphold his death penalty,” Supreme Court Justices Aftab Alam and CK Prasad ruled.

Legal experts say it could still be months or even years before Mohammad Qasab’s sentence can be carried out.

India's Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Pakistani national Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman of the 2008 attacks on Mumbai

India's Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of Pakistani national Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman of the 2008 attacks on Mumbai

He has the right to appeal to the same two judges to review his case. If that fails he can take his appeal to other Supreme Court judges. His last hope lies with a plea for clemency to the president.

There will now be huge pressure for the death sentence to be carried out soon.

A spokesman for India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said there should be “no delay” in executing Qasab.

“Those who wage war against the country and kill innocents deserve no mercy,” he said.

Prosecutor Gopal Subramaniam hailed the verdict as “a complete victory of the due processes of law”.

“It was a case argued in a completely professional and dispassionate manner,” Gopal Subramaniam said.

Defence lawyer Raju Ramachandran told reporters outside the court that he had made his arguments and “the court considered them”.

“I bow to the verdict,” he added.

The trial court in Mumbai had found Mohammad Qasab guilty on 3 May 2010 of murder, terrorist acts and waging war on India and sentenced him to death.

In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Mohammad Qasab argued that the prosecution had “failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt” the charges against him.

He said he “may be guilty of killing people and carrying out a terrorist act but I am not guilty of waging war against the state”.

The 60-hour siege of Mumbai began on 26 November 2008, targeting luxury hotels, the main railway station and a Jewish cultural centre.

Mohammad Qasab and an accomplice carried out the assault on the station, killing 52 people.

India blamed Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the attacks.

After initial denials, Pakistan acknowledged that the assault had been partially planned on its territory and that Mohammad Qasab was a Pakistani citizen.

 

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