Ansals convicted of evidence tampering

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Friday convicted real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal for tampering with evidence in the 1997 Uphaar Cinema fire case, a blaze that left 59 people dead.

Chief metropolitan magistrate Pankaj Sharma also held a former court staffer Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others, PP Batra and Anoop Singh, guilty in the case.

The court is likely to hear arguments on the quantum of sentence on Monday. The convicts may face a maximum term of life imprisonment.

The court also sought income certificates of all the convicts by Monday to decide compensation for the victims and their kin.

The fire broke out at Uphaar Cinema on June 13, 1997.

The Ansals were convicted and sentenced to a two-year jail term in the main case by the Supreme Court. It, however, released them, taking into account the prison time they served, on condition that they pay a ₹30 crore fine each, to be used to build a trauma centre in the national capital.

Two other accused, Har Swaroop Panwar and Dharamvir Malhotra, died during the course of the trial.

The court accepted the arguments by senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for the complainant Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT), that the Ansals and Panwar hatched a criminal conspiracy to destroy the most vital piece of evidence collected by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against them in the main case.

The case was lodged on the direction of the Delhi high court while hearing a petition by AVUT chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy.

According to the charge sheet, the documents tampered with included a police memo giving details of recoveries immediately after the incident, Delhi Fire Service records pertaining to repair of transformer installed inside Uphaar, minutes of Managing Director’s meetings, and four cheques.