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Uphaar tragedy: Delhi court upholds conviction of Ansal brothers in evidence tampering case
Uphaar fire tragedy: On February 16 this year, the Delhi high court had refused to suspend the sentence and directed the sessions judge to decide the appeal of the accused at the earliest.
A Delhi court on Monday upheld the conviction of Gopal Ansal and Sushil Ansal in connection with the evidence tampering case in the 1997 Uphaar cinema hall fire tragedy.
The court will hear fresh arguments on the sentence as the Ansal brothers have also challenged the seven-year jail term handed to them by a magistrate's court in November 8 last year for tampering evidence. The court had also imposed a fine of ₹2.25 crores on the Ansals.
Besides Ansals, the court had also convicted PP Batra, Anoop Singh and Dinesh Chand Sharma, while handing seven year jail term to them.
The sentencing took place after the court had convicted the accused for the abetment of offence, causing disappearance of evidence, criminal breach of trust by a public servant and criminal conspiracy.
According to the chargesheet, the documents tampered with included a police memo detailing the recoveries immediately after the incident, the Delhi Fire Service records regarding the repair of the transformer installed inside the cinema hall, minutes of managing director's meetings and four cheques.
The court, however, set aside the conviction of another accused Anoop Singh in the case. All the convicts including both the Ansal brothers, PP Batra and Dinesh Sharma will be produced in court on Tuesday.
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On February 16, this year, the high court had refused to suspend the sentence and directed the sessions judge to decide the appeal of the accused at the earliest.
At least 59 people lost their lives due to asphyxia and over 100 were injured in the stampede after a fire broke out at the Uphaar Cinema on June 13,1997 during the screening of JP Dutta's film ‘Border’.
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