'Strong case against Ansals in evidence tampering'

There was a strong possibility the Ansal brothers had provided a job to a court employee who was sacked for tampering with trial court records in the case of the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy at their behest.

There was a strong possibility the Ansal brothers had provided a job to a court employee who was sacked for tampering with trial court records in the case of the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy at their behest, the Delhi High Court said on Wednesday.

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"It is a strong circumstance against you (Ansals) that you provided employment after he (Dinesh Chand Sharma) was dismissed from his job," Justice S Muralidhar said while hearing a petition of the real estate tycoons challenging criminal proceedings against them for tampering with the evidence.

Senior advocate UU Lalit, appearing for Sushil Ansal, said the Ansal brothers are not directly connected with Sharma, who was allegedly responsible for tampering with judicial documents.

The Ansals approached the high court for quashing a trial court's Feb 15, 2008, order in which it had issued summons against them and four others for allegedly tampering with court evidence.

The Ansals pleaded that the proceedings against Sushil Ansal was illegal and should be stayed as an inquiry had said it was a case of misconduct.

Besides the Ansal brothers, the trial court had also initiated proceedings against P.P. Batra, Har Swaroop, Anoop Singh and Dharamvir Malhotra.

The two brothers have been lodged in jail since Septempber after their bails were cancelled by the Supreme Court.

The trial court had convicted the brothers in November 2007 for their complicity in the Uphaar theatre fire in which 59 cinegoers were killed on June 13, 1997. The two were sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment.

The high court in December reduced the jail term to one year each.