Warrant against Dutt for non-appearance in court cancelled

Mumbai:A court here on Monday cancelled a bailable arrest warrant issued against Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt for not appearing before it to reply to a complaint of criminal intimidation filed by film producer Shakeel Noorani. Dutt today appeared in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Chaya Patil and sat through the hearing, though his lawyer Rizwan Merchant submitted that the actor’s presence was not necessary for cancellation of the warrant.

The court allowed an application moved by his lawyer seeking cancellation of the warrant issued against him on Saturday. 57-year-old Dutt had attributed his failure to appear before the court to a “communication lapse” between his and Noorani’s counsel and had vowed to “rectify the situation”. Noorani has filed a private complaint seeking registration of a case against Dutt for criminal intimidation alleging that the actor had abandoned a film ‘Jan ki Bazzi’ midway in 2002 which he was producing. Noorani has said the actor did not even return the money paid to him. The producer had approached the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) which directed Dutt to pay back the money.

Noorani later moved the Bombay High Court seeking execution of the IMPPA’s order. The producer has alleged he had received threats from some underworld figures who asked him to withdraw the case. Earlier too, a warrant had been issued against Dutt for non-appearance in this case, but he was granted bail. Dutt, who was convicted under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, was released from the jail last year. (PTI)