Sanjay Dutt admits to attending Dawood's party

Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt on Tuesday denied before the Supreme Court any relationship with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim even though he admitted that he had attended a party hosted by the gangster before the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai.

Dutt also claimed that he had no relation with prime accused Tiger Memon. Appearing on behalf of Dutt, senior advocate Harish Salve told a bench of Justices P Sathasivam and B S Chauhan that the film actor had attended a dinner at Dawood’s house in Dubai but had no friendship with the don.

“I have only attended a dinner at Dawood’s house along with two film producers which was before the blast. Other than that I do not have any relationship,” he said. The court then sought to know if the relationship was confined to film shooting from the counsel to which he replied in affirmative.

The bench started hearing the Dutt’s appeal challenging his conviction and the six-year jail awarded to him under the Arms Act for alleged illegal possession of a gun in connection with the 1993 bomb blasts case. The apex court also asked Dutt as to why he retracted from his alleged confessional statement. “The retraction comes after one-and-half years. You could have done it immediately,” the bench asked the counsel.