Mumbai blast: SC sentences Sanjay Dutt to 5 years in jail

12:03 pm: Actor Sanjay Dutt's lawyer Satish Maneshinde says, "Once we receive the Supreme Court order, we will then advise Dutt. Unfortunate that this has happened. We will abide the Supreme Court's order."

12:01 pm: Supreme court says that on the gravity of the crime Sanjay Dutt will not get a probation as he had asked for. Sanjay has an option of filing a review petition.

11:59 am: Supreme Court asks all accused to surrender within four weeks.

11:53 am: Actor Sanjay Dutt's conviction upheld by the Supreme Court, sentenced to five years in jail. Sanjay was convicted by a TADA court in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case and has already spent 18 months in jail. However, the apex court has reduced his sentence from six years to five. Sanjay has not been granted any probation and will have to spend three years and six months in jail.

11:52 am: Supreme Court observes, "Yakub Memon and all absconding accused including Dawood Ibrahim were archers and rest of the accused were arrows in their hands."

11:48 am: Supreme Court says, "Police, customs and coastal guards are also to be blamed for 1993 Mumbai blasts."

11:46 am: Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam says he welcomes the Supreme Court judgement on 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

11:45 am: Supreme Court says that the training of convicts materialised in Pakistan. The apex court adds that management and conspiracy of 1993 blasts were done by Dawood Ibrahim and others in Pakistan. Supreme Court says that Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI was also involved in the 1993 blasts.

11:44 am: Supreme Court commutes death sentence of 10 convicts to life imprisonment on the ground that the convicts were behind bars for 20 years and their economic condition was weak.

11:41 am: Advocate Mukul Sinha says, "Except for the death sentence, they all deserved to be punished. Their 1993 action was terrible. Cannot look at the issue in isolation."

11:38 am: Supreme Court upholds life terms of 17 convicts in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

11:29 am: Supreme Court upholds death penalty to mastermind Yakub Memon in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case. The apex court reduces death sentence of 10 others to life imprisonment. Yakub was convicted in 1993 blast case and is brother of Ibrahim Mushtaq 'Tiger' Memon, one of the prime accused of the attacks which killed 257 people. Yakub Memon was convicted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case and has been in jail since he returned to India and surrendered in 1994.

11:02 am: The Supreme Court begins pronouncing the verdict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

It is judgement day for actor Sanjay Dutt as the Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case on Thursday. Sanjay's sister Priya Dutt reached the Supreme Court a short while back. A special TADA court had convicted 100 people in the serial blasts case in which 250 people died and more than 700 were injured.

Having already spent 18 months behind bars during the trial, Dutt, 53, would have to undergo the rest of the sentence if the Supreme Court upholds the TADA court's verdict. The actor was convicted in November 2006 for illegal possession of a 9mm pistol and an AK-56 rifle but was acquitted of more serious charges of criminal conspiracy under the now defunct anti-terror TADA.

The 1993 Bombay Blasts case investigation has spanned several months leading to the arrest of 123 accused and numerous others including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim named as wanted accused. Meanwhile, security has been increased in several sensitive areas in Mumbai and also the blast sites.

The trial had began in April 1994 under the stringent Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act or TADA while the first witness deposed in June 1995. The mammoth trial went on for 14 long years at Arthur Road Prison in Mumbai as over 600 witnesses were examined.

In December 2006, 100 accused were convicted while 23 were acquitted by the TADA court. Twelve of the accused were handed out the capital punishment, while 20 others got a life sentence. After a marathon 10-month-long hearing beginning November 1, 2011, the Supreme Court had in August 2012 reserved its verdict on appeals and cross-appeals in the 1993 Mumbai serial terror bombing case in which 257 people were killed and 713 were injured.

Actor Sanjay Dutt was convicted under the Arms Act while he escaped conviction under TADA. He was handed out an imprisonment of six years and is currently out on bail. Seven more accused including extradited gangster Abu Salem are currently being tried for their roles in the blasts.

The Supreme Court's verdict on Thursday will end this two-decade-long chapter of Mumbai's tryst with terror and with it perhaps bring closure to the horror of one of the maximum's city's darkest Friday. On March 12, 1993, Mumbai was rocked by a series of blasts, engineered by fundamentalist elements, which also damaged property worth over Rs 27 crore.

With Additional Inputs from PTI