New Delhi: The Patiala House Court in Delhi sentenced Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal to seven years of imprisonment in a case related to tampering with evidence in the Uphaar fire tragedy. The court on October 8 convicted five people including the Ansal brothers in the case.
Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal, a former court employee Dinesh Chand Sharma PP Batra and Anoop Singh were also convicted in the case on October 8. Fifty-nine people died of suffocation on June 13, 1997, when a fire broke out at Uphaar Cinema at Green Park in South Delhi during the screening of the film 'Border'. Following the incident, at least 100 people were injured in the subsequent stampede.
Earlier this month the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) urged a Delhi court to sentence the real estate tycoons Ansal brothers and others for tampering with evidence in the case.
Also Read Uphaar fire tragedy: AVUT seeks life imprisonment for Ansals in evidence tampering case
Two other accused in the case, Swaroop Panwar and Dharamvir Malhotra, died during the trial. The Delhi High Court issued a direction to lodge the case during the hearing of a petition filed by AVUT chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy.
According to the charge sheet, the documents allegedly tampered with included a police memo containing details of recoveries immediately after the incident, a Delhi Fire Service record about the repairing of a transformer inside Uphaar, minutes of meetings held by the Managing Director and four cheques.
It further stated that out of the six sets of documents, a cheque of Rs50 lakh, issued by Sushil Ansal to self, and minutes of the MD's meetings proved that the Ansal brothers were handling the daily affairs of the cinema hall at that time.
