Sanjay Dutt was ‘crazy about weapons’, could have helped in stopping 1993 serial blasts, says prosector Ujjwal Nikam: ‘Bollywood thanda pad gaya’

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Sanjay Dutt was arrested after the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai. (Photo: Express Archives)

In the same chat, when Ujjwal Nikam was asked about his older statement that Sanjay Dutt could have helped in avoiding the serial blasts, he said that had Sanjay informed the authorities about the “tempo full of weapons”, the police would have apprehended the criminals and the attacks could have been stopped. “When they came to him with a tempo full of weapons… If he had informed the police about it, then the police would have followed it up. They would have apprehended the accused. That’s why I said it. Sanjay didn’t know that the blast was going to happen but even if he had informed that these many weapons came in, and they had RDX, hand grenades, then the police would have investigated and stopped the blasts,” he said.

The public prosecutor was asked if he faced any pressure since Sanjay Dutt was a public figure and a popular movie star. He also said that Sanjay had previously bought another weapon illegally which proved that this wasn’t his first offence. “There was no pressure on me. When the court punished him under Arms Act, his lawyer said that it is his first offence and he should be given some benefit for that. I opposed that. Because before this, Sanjay had purchased one 9mm pistol from Dawood Ibrahim’s right hand man. And I said that since he bought an unlicensed weapon from a criminal, he can’t get that benefit and the court rejected it,” he said and added, “I believe that Sanjay was crazy about weapons and arms. He wasn’t directly involved in the bomb blasts.”

Kamal Sadanah, Dilip Kumar, Saif Ali Khan and Meenakshi Seshadari supporting Sanjay Dutt after his arrest. (Photo: Express Archives)

At the time, it was said that late actor-politician Sunil Dutt requested Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray to intervene in the case and plead for Sanjay Dutt. Ujjwal Nikam said that Thackeray spoke to him as well. “He met me as well. He said he is innocent, let him go. He was a very simple, kind hearted man. If anyone went up to him that I have faced injustice, he would listen to them,” he said.

Ujjwal also shared that soon after Sanjay’s arrest, the entire Bollywood stood up in his favour but he shut them down. He said, “After the court declared Sanjay Dutt as guilty, Bollywood launched a campaign saying, ‘Baba, you are not guilty, we are with you.’ So I gave a statement in the press, ‘I will prosecute, you are trying to pressurise the judiciary.’ Bollywood thanda pad gaya (Bollywood stopped after that).”

Sanjay Dutt was cleared of all charges in connection to the bomb blasts in 2007 but was sentenced to six years imprisonment for illegal possession of weapons. Sanjay finished serving his sentence in 2016.