Uphaar fire tragedy: 7-year jail term for Ansal brothers for tampering evidence

The case is related to tampering with the evidence of the fire tragedy in which 59 lives were lost.

A Delhi court on Monday awarded seven-year simple imprisonment to real estate barons Gopal Ansal and Sushil Ansal in a case of tampering with evidence in the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy case.

Uphaar cinema's property at Green Park in New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Chief metropolitan magistrate Pankaj Sharma of the Patiala House Court also imposed a fine of ₹2.25 crore on each of the Ansal brothers.

Out on bail, the convicts were taken into the custody soon after the order was pronounced.

While pronouncing the judgment, Sharma said he spent nights thinking about the case, following which he reached the conclusion that the real estate barons deserved punishment.

“I think it is very hard to reach out to this decision given the complexities involved. After some thinking over some nights and nights, I have come to this conclusion that they deserve punishment,” the magistrate said.

On October 8, the court had convicted the Ansal brothers along with two of their employees among others in the case related.

The case is related to tampering with the evidence of the 1997 fire tragedy in which 59 lives were lost. The Ansal brothers were convicted and sentenced to two years in jail by the Supreme Court.

The apex court had, however, released them on the period already undergone in the jail on the condition that they paid ₹30 crore fine each to be used for building a trauma centre in the national capital.

The Ansal brothers were booked along with a court staff, Dinesh Chand Sharma, and other individuals PP Batra, Har Swaroop Panwar, Anoop Singh, and Dharamvir Malhotra in the tampering of evidence case.

Panwar and Malhotra died during the course of the trial.

The fire had broken out at the Uphaar cinema during the screening of the Hindi film 'Border' on June 13, 1997, killing 59 people.