Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted for possessing illegal weapon in connection with the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case, will appear before a special TADA court here today.

Special TADA court Judge Pramod Kode had also granted time to three other co-accused to surrender today.

Dutt had filed an application under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958, which allows a person convicted of any offence other than the one punishable with death or life imprisonment to be released on probation, instead of serving time in prison.

Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had opposed Dutt's plea arguing that he could not be said to have been a "youthful" offender, when the crime was committed.

Nikam said the Probation of Offenders Act was meant for young and immature offenders. Dutt at 34, when in 1993 he accepted an AK-56 rifle and a Chinese 9mm pistol from Samir Hingora, was "mature and adult".

Nikam contended that Dutt could then distinguish between a hunting rifle and an AK-56, "a weapon of mass destruction".

He dismissed Dutt's defense that he had acquired the AK-56 as he feared for his family's safety during the Mumbai riots following Babri Masjid demolition.

Nikam argued that Dutt rather knew people from the underworld, like Dawood Ibrahim.

Dutt was cleared of charges of conspiracy in the 1993 Mumbai blast case. But he was booked for illegally possessing an AK-56 rifle that had come in a consignment of arms and explosives meant for use in the Mumbai serial blasts that killed 257 people.