The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has informed the Delhi High Court that Sushil Ansal, convicted in the 1997 Uphaar Cinema tragedy in which 59 people were killed, “consistently suppressed material information” relating to criminal proceedings against him while applying for renewal of his passport.
“It is the view of the inquiry team that the issue of passport to Ansal in July 2018 should be further investigated by the CPO [Chief Passport Officer],” the MEA (Passport Division) inquiry report stated.
False declarations
The inquiry was initiated following a direction by the High Court, after a petition was filed by the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) through its chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy claiming that the real estate tycoon deliberately made false declarations about his criminal proceedings while applying for passport.
“Ansal consistently suppressed material information relating to criminal proceedings or criminal cases against him while applying for renewal or reissue of passports to him in 2000, 2004 and 2013,” the report said, but clarified that “at no time were multiple passports issued to Ansal”.
Ansal surrendered his passport to the Passport Office here in August 2017 admitting he had “unintentionally” declared that no criminal proceedings were pending against him while applying for renewal of his earlier passport under the tatkal scheme.
His passport was then taken in custody by the passport authority.
In May this year, Ansal made an application for reissue of a new passport with a ‘No-Objection Certificate’ from a local court. While processing the application form, a police verification was initiated. Despite adverse report, on multiple police verifications, he was issued a short-validity passport on July 2, 2018.
“It is not clear why the application was moved from pre-PV [police verification] to post-PV; the reason for overruling the adverse PV report and granting passport,” the report said.
The inquiry further found that while applying for a fresh passport in May this year, Ansal had submitted an undertaking that one case was pending against him. “Here again, he had suppressed material information about the other court proceedings against him”.
The MEA hinted that suppression of information was done deliberately by Ansal as he was “very much aware of the rules and procedures governing the application for an Indian passport”.
The Passport Act prescribes a punishment of up to two-year imprisonment for furnishing any false information while acquiring a passport.
