Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government has ordered a probe into the sting operation on Sanjay Dutt's lawyer Satish Maneshinde, in which the latter was caught on camera admitting that the TADA court may have given preferential treatment to the actor in the 1993 Mumbai blast case.
The issue has snowballed into a huge controversy with the legal fraternity criticising the media for "dishonest reporting" and the Maharashtra Opposition demanding a reopening of the entire case like the Jessica Lall murder case.
Several Mumbai lawyers have criticised the newspaper as well as the TV channel which carried out the sting, claiming that they “dishonestly trapped” Maneshinde to share his opinion and that the reporter, who posed as a potential client, committed a breach of privilege of the doctrine of lawyer-client confidentiality.
In Maharashtra Assembly, the issue was raised on Saturday after Question Hour by an MLA, who said "if there are doubts over the way the prosecution handled the Dutt case, it should be reopened like the Jessica Lall murder case."
Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil assured the House that "the issue is a sensitive one and it will be probed by the Crime Branch."
Dutt, who figures among the 100 convicts, was found guilty by a special court for illegal possession of arms under the Arms Act, but acquitted under the more stringent anti-terror law TADA.
The court is expected to pronounce the quantum of sentences on the convicts on April 19 at the end of a 14-year-long trial. The TADA court’s final judgement, which will contain the detailed reasoning for each conviction and acquittal, is still to be delivered.
But Maneshinde's remarks could mean a huge setback for Sanjay Dutt's long legal battle to get probation and escape a jail term.
According to the newspaper, Tehelka, its reporter met Maneshinde in the first week of March posing as the daughter of Zaibunissa Kazi.
Zaibunissa, whose house was used by gangster Abu Salem to store two AK-56 rifles returned by Dutt, was convicted under Tada in the 1993 serial blasts case. However, Dutt was spared the stringent TADA charges and convicted under the Arms Act for illegal possession of arms, including an AK-56 rifle.
While Maneshinde refused to help Zaibunissa’s ‘daughter’ citing conflict of interest, he did express surprise at the fact that Dutt had been absolved of Tada charges while those involved in delivering and storing the weapons were not. The conversation was secretly taped and aired on a private channel on Friday night.
The newspaper has gone on record, saying it has done nothing unethical. "Sometimes investigations on issues of public interest necessitate use of extraordinary methods," they claim.
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