New Delhi: A Court here on Monday upheld the conviction of Gopal Ansal and Sushil Ansal for tampering with evidence in a case related to the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire.
The court will hear fresh arguments on the sentence as the Ansal brothers have also challenged the seven-year jail term handed to them by a magistrate’s court in November 8 last year for tampering with evidence.
A magisterial court had convicted and awarded 7-year jail terms to Ansals in the case, besides imposing a fine of Rs 2.25 crore on each of them.
Besides Ansals, the court had also convicted PP Batra, Anoop Singh and Dinesh Chand Sharma.
According to the chargesheet, the documents tampered with included a police memo detailing the recoveries immediately after the incident, the Delhi Fire Service records regarding the repair of the transformer installed inside the cinema hall, minutes of managing director’s meetings and four cheques.
On February 16, this year, the high court had refused to suspend the sentence and directed the sessions judge to decide the appeal of the accused at the earliest.
At least 59 people lost their lives due to asphyxia and over 100 were injured in the stampede after a fire broke out at the Uphaar Cinema on June 13,1997.
