Sanjay Dutt, one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, was jailed for six years yesterday for possessing illegal firearms given to him by gangsters involved in a series of bomb attacks in Bombay in 1993.

The sentence devastated the actor and his millions of fans and sent shock waves through the Bollywood film industry, which could lose millions of pounds from his uncompleted projects.

The burly bad boy of Indian cinema had served 18 months in prison while awaiting trial 12 years ago and had asked the judge to allow him to remain free on bail. Dutt, 48, now looks likely to spend the next 4½ years behind bars for having acquired three AK56 assault rifles and a 9mm pistol from perpetrators of the worst terrorist attack in India.

Judge Pramod Kode read out the sentence to a packed courtroom in the dramatic climax of 12 years of legal proceedings stemming from the “Black Friday” bombings, which killed 257 people.

“Sanjay was not a minor at that time. Acquiring a weapon of this nature suggests the character of the person, and is contrary to the law,” Judge Kode told the court. “In no sense can this be said to be a minor offence.”

Looking at Dutt, he said: “Don’t be sentimental. Be calm and quiet.”

Dutt, who rose to stardom in the 1980s as the archetypal Bollywood tough guy, wept and trembled as the judge read out the sentence.

“I made a mistake 14 years ago . . . Pray for me,” the 6ft 2in actor said.

He told reporters later that his feelings were best described by the song Nothing Else Matters by the heavy metal band Metallica.

Dutt, wiping tears from his eyes, asked Judge Kode to release him on bail so that he could arrange his personal affairs and prepare an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The judge turned down the request and ordered that he be taken straight into custody in the dingy Arthur Road jail in Bombay.

The trial has involved 686 witnesses and resulted in more than 100 convictions, including 12 death sentences and 20 life sentences.

Dutt was found guilty last November, although he was cleared of the more serious charge of terrorism.

Police say that the bombings were carried out by members of the Muslim underworld in Bombay to avenge anti-Muslim riots and the demolition of a mosque in northern India by Hindu extremists in 1992.

Dutt, the son of a Hindu father and a Muslim mother, has always maintained his innocence, arguing that he bought the firearms to protect his family from anti-Muslim rioting.

Ujjwal Nikam, the chief prosecutor, said that that was “not good enough an excuse”. He added: “Dutt is a good actor and a celebrity, but this does not give him a licence for illegal action.”

Satish Maneshinde, Dutt’s lawyer, described the sentence as harsh and vowed to appeal. “Sanjay Dutt is a strong man. He has bounced back every time he has faced a crisis. This is one such crisis,” he told reporters. “Millions of fans and his family are praying for him and this will sustain him when he is in prison.”

Dutt’s early success was overshadowed by drug abuse, two failed marriages and persistent rumours of links to the Bombay underworld.

He has made a comeback in recent years, recasting himself as a comic actor in films such as Carry on Munnabai, in which he plays a gangster visited by the ghost of Mahatma Gandhi. He completed most of his pending movie projects during bail extensions over the past year.

The industry could still lose at least £6 million from two unfinished Dutt films, Alibag and Fraud.

Mahesh Bhatt, a film producer and director, described the sentence as a “body blow” to Bollywood. “I cannot say the sentence was not fair . . . [but] six years is too strong,” he said.

Stars and bars

Oscar-nominated actor Robert Downey Jr spent most of a three-year sentence behind bars after repeated drug and alcohol arrests. Released in 2000, he has been arrested on several occasions

“It’s like Palm Springs without the riff-raff,” was how Robert Mitchum answered questions about prison after his 1949 spell for conspiracy to possess marijuana

Tom Sizemore, star of Blackhawk Down, was sentenced this year to 16 months for possession of crystal meth while on parole. His sentence was later reduced for time already served

French actor Sammy Naceri, star of the Taxi series and Days of Glory, was sentenced to six months and fined heavily last year for abusing a black policeman. He was also charged with a separate assault

Sophia Loren spent several weeks in a women’s minimum-security jail after being charged with tax evasion in 1982

Rubens Sabino, who acted in the Brazilian hit City of God, portraying the lives of poor children on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, was arrested in 2003 for his part in a robbery

Sources: filmfestivaltoday.com ; imdb.com

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