Sanjay Dutt returns to jail in bombings case

By Krittivas Mukherjee

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Actor Sanjay Dutt was sent to jail after being given a copy on Monday of his judgement for illegal possession of guns, resolving a legal technicality, court officials said.

Dutt was convicted of getting an AK-47 rifle and a pistol from gangsters involved in India's worst bombings that killed 257 people in 1993, but he was absolved of conspiracy in that attack in the country's financial capital.

He appealed against his six-year sentence in the Supreme Court and was allowed bail until he was served a copy of the more than 4,300-page judgement for the entire 1993 case by the special Mumbai court that sentenced him.

His lawyers contended that they could not argue his case in the absence of a copy of the judgement, 86 pages of which concerned Dutt.

The actor began serving his sentence on July 31 and spent 24 days in jail before being bailed by the Supreme Court.

Dutt, 48, was taken to a prison in Mumbai on Monday, but was expected to be transferred later in the day to one in Pune.

Dressed in a blue shirt and jeans, Dutt spoke on the telephone with his daughter in the United States before being led away by half a dozen police officials.

Dutt's lawyers said they would appeal in the Supreme Court against the judgement and seek bail again while the matter was heard by the apex court.