Ansal asks SC to defer surrender
Gopal Ansal, owner of the Uphaar cinema where a fire breakout killed 59 people in 1997, has on Monday moved the Supreme Court urging it to modify its order sending him to jail, even as almost a week is left for the deadline for his surrender.
The Supreme Court had, on February 9, sentenced one year jail term to the city-based builder. He was to surrender by March 9 to serve seven months, since he had spent a four-month in jail previously.
The court had but spared his elder brother Sushil, who co-owned the ill-fated theatre, taking in to consideration his age and ailments. Terming his petition a “redressal of genuine grievance,” Gopal said the court could not have denied him the same relief that was extended to Sushil because his medical condition was equally precarious.
The application, likely to be mentioned on Tuesday, is an attempt to reopen the case that attained finality on February 9.
Gopal wants the court to apply principle of parity in his case on the ground that he has already spent more time in custody than his brother has. He wants the court to extend the time of surrender till it decides his applica- tion, which he wants to be heard in open court.
Gopal claimed to be a victim of prejudice “created in high political circles and the media” and reiterated his innocence.
On March 5, 2014, an SC bench of Justices TS Thakur and GS Mishra had upheld the conviction of Ansal brothers, but differed on the quantum of sentence. While Justice Thakur agreed the imprisonment of one year, Justice Mishra supported a two-year prison term. He held the sentence could be reduced to one year if the brothers paid ₹50 crore each for construction of a trauma centre in Dwarka.
On August 19, 2015, another SC bench let off the period of jail term the brothers had already served. Each brother was asked to pay ₹30 crore as fine. However, the SC later modified its order, and directed Gopal to surrender.