HC asks police to reply to Sushil Ansal’s plea in evidence tampering case

NEW DELHI:

The High Court on Tuesday asked the Delhi police to respond to a petition by real estate tycoon Sushil Ansal challenging his conviction in a case of tampering with evidence in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire tragedy.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav gave the direction on the 83-year-old’s petition and listed the case for further hearing on December 13.

The case is related to tampering with the evidence in the main fire tragedy case, in which the Ansals were convicted and sentenced to a two-year jail term by the Supreme Court in August 2015. The tampering was detected for the first time on July 20, 2002, and a Departmental inquiry was initiated.

The fire tragedy, which broke out at the cinema during the screening of the Hindi film ‘Border’ on June 13, 1997, claimed 59 lives.

Apart from the petition by Mr. Sushil Ansal challenging his conviction, the High court is also hearing another petition by the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) seeking enhancement of the punishment awarded to the convicts in the evidence tampering case.

A local court had on November 8, 2021, awarded seven-year jail terms to the real estate barons. However, a court had on July 19, 2022, modified the local court’s order on sentence and ordered the release of Sushil and Gopal Ansal, former court staff Dinesh Chandra Sharma and Ansal’s then employee Batra against their already undergone jail term since November 8, 2021.