Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt found guilty of arms possession

Mumbai: Top Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt was convicted on Tuesday of illegally possessing weapons but cleared of conspiracy charges in connection with a series of bomb blasts in Mumbai that killed 257 people in 1993.

The 47-year-oldDutt, who had pleaded not guilty, had been charged with conspiracy, illegal possession of arms and trying to destroy evidence connected with an attack which shook India's financial and film capital.

"During the reasoning, I have not found him to be a terrorist or a destructor," judge Pramod Kode told a crowded anti-terrorism court.

Dutt's trial had transfixed Bollywood - the world's largest film industry by volume and ticket sales - where millions of dollars are riding on movies already under production.

Until Monday, the special court in one of the world's longest running trials had found 86 people, mostly Muslims, guilty among 123 accused in the blasts blamed on India's most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim, believed to be in Pakistan.

Dutt will be sentenced at a later date. Sentences will be handed after all the verdicts are delivered, expected to take two more weeks. The offence could attract a sentence of up to three years, but Dutt has already served more than year in prison during investigations.

"I have said you are not a terrorist," the judge said again, this time addressing the sombre-looking actor who was in the court room wearing a red and grey shirt and blue jeans.

Dutt, who was accompanied by friends, asked the judge if he could be heard for two minutes. Kode told him he would get a chance to speak later.

In the run-up to the verdict, Dutt had said he was nervous and apprehensive.

"I'm going to bow my head and take whatever comes my way. And I will accept whatever the honourable court says to me," the actor told one TV channel.

Of the 123 defendants, 11 died during the trial, 36 are in jail and the rest are out on bail. Another 37 suspects, have been declared "absconders" or fugitives.

Son of legendary film couple Sunil Dutt and Nargis, the actor initially said he had bought an automatic rifle from gangsters accused in the bombings to protect his family. He later retracted the statement.

Television channels showed Dutt praying at a Hindu temple in Mumbai on the eve of the verdict.