Sanjay Dutt aide Yusuf Nulwala says he had ‘permitted’ AK-56

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Friday, expressed its anguish that no one has brought to the court’s notice a new fact that Yusuf Nulwala, who was sentenced to undergo five year imprisonment in the 1993 Mumbai blasts’ case along with actor Sanjay Dutt, was in possession of AK-56, which is not a prohibited weapon.

In March 2013, both were sentenced to five years and even as they are undergoing the sentence, Yusuf Nulwala filed a fresh writ petition pointing out that the maximum punishment for possession of AK-56 was only three years and that his sentence should be reduced.

This writ petition came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C. Pant and senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Nulwala submitted that AK-56 which was seized from Nulwala is not an automatic weapon and hence he can’t be sentenced to 5 years but only three years as per IPC provisions. Since he had already undergone 3-year jail term, counsel sought a direction for his release forthwith.

Justice Gogoi told the counsel “you are bringing in this information for the first time. Everyone overlooked this aspect. You have already been convicted by the trial court and the Supreme Court.”

He told Nulwala further: “Now, you can only file a curative petition. Till then, we shall keep the present petition pending.”