Just in: A pardon plea for actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted in a case related to 1993 Mumbai blasts, was rejected by Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao.

Two and a half years ago, former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju  had written letters to the President, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde after a discussion with noted criminal lawyer Majid Memon and others in March 2013. Their decision came after Sanjay Dutt broke down in front of the media and declared that he was not going to seek pardon and would go by the Supreme Court decision, reports The Times of India. 

Dutt was convicted in the 1993 blasts case under the Arms Act for possessing weapons. He was jailed in 1996 and spent 18 months behind bars before walking out on bail. In 2013, the Supreme Court sentenced him to five years in prison for the crime.