New Delhi. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked real estate businessmen Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal to quash their conviction and sentence for tampering with evidence in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire incident. Asked the police for an answer.
Sushil Ansal has already completed his imprisonment in this case related to the fire on June 13, 1997. 59 people died in this incident. Justice Purushendra Kumar Kaurav issued notice to Delhi Police on 83-year-old Sushil Ansal’s plea and fixed December 13 for next hearing on the matter.
Meanwhile, the High Court has issued a bailable warrant against PP Batra, then Ansal’s employee, as neither he nor his lawyer appeared before the court during the hearing of the victims’ plea for enhancement of sentence for tampering with evidence. Presented. The High Court is hearing two separate petitions. One petition has been filed by Sushil Ansal challenging his conviction and sentence, while the other petition is for extension of the sentence awarded to the convicts in the case of tampering of evidence. This second petition was filed by the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT).
Significantly, on November 8, 2021, a magistrate court had sentenced the real estate businessmen to seven years of imprisonment. After this, the District Judge had on July 19 amended the order of the Magistrate Court on the sentence and ordered the release of the Ansal brothers, Dinesh Chand Sharma, a former employee of the court and Batra, the then employee of the Ansal brothers. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3 crore each on Sushil and Gopal Ansal, Rs 30,000 on Batra and Rs 60,000 on Sharma.
Sushil Ansal said that he has complied with the order of the trial court and deposited a fine of Rs 3 crore and he has also directed the association to deposit Rs 3 crore as ‘security’ amount till the disposal of his petition. the requested. Challenging the order of the sessions court, the petition alleged that the appellate court had passed the order of July 18 on mere probabilities. (Language)
