1997 Uphaar cinema fire case: Delhi Court upholds conviction of Ansal brothers for evidence tampering

The case is related to tampering with the evidence in the main fire tragedy case in which the Ansal brothers were convicted and sentenced to a 2-year jail term by the Supreme Court

A Delhi court on July 17 upheld the conviction of real estate tycoons Sushil and Gopal Ansal for tampering with evidence in a case related to the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire, which had claimed 59 lives. File | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

A Delhi court on July 17 upheld the conviction of real estate tycoons Sushil and Gopal Ansal for tampering with evidence in a case related to the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire, which had claimed 59 lives.

District Judge Dharmesh Sharma dismissed the appeal filed by real estate barons and two others challenging their conviction by a magisterial court.

The court will hear arguments on the quantum of punishment on July 19.

The court, however, acquitted one co-accused, Anup Singh, in the case and granted him bail.

A magisterial court had convicted and awarded 7-year jail terms to Ansals in the case, besides imposing a fine of ₹2.25 crore on each of them.

Besides Ansals, the court had also awarded 7-year jail terms to former court staff Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others — P.P. Batra and Anoop Singh — and had imposed a fine of three lakh rupees each on them.

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 2-year jail term by the Supreme Court.

The apex court, however, released them taking into account the prison time they had done on the condition that they pay a ₹30 crore fine each, to be used for building a trauma centre in the national capital.

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

Out of the six sets of documents, a cheque of ₹50 lakh, issued by Sushil Ansal to self, and minutes of the MD’s meetings, proved beyond doubt that the two brothers were handling the day-to-day affairs of the theatre at the relevant time, the charge sheet had said.

In pictures: Uphaar theatre, 21 years later

June 13, 2018 marks 21 years of the Uphaar fire that claimed 59 lives. Over a 100 were injured in subsequent stampede.

At 4.55 p.m. on June 13, 1997, a spark in an electricity transformer on the ground floor of the Uphaar complex led to a fire.

It spread to the parking lot, where cars went up in flames, leading to thick toxic smoke entering the auditorium via the air-conditioning ducts.

As many as 750 people sitting on the first floor of the cinema managed to escape, those in the balcony were less lucky.

The owners of the theatre, Sushil Ansal and his son Pranav were arrested and a case was filed with the Delhi Police, which was, eventually, transferred to the CBI

Besides Ansals, there were 14 accused in the case. However, four of them died during the trial.

The case has had a roller coaster ride during the past two decades.

In 2015, following a Supreme Court judgment, the Ansals walked free after paying a fine of Rs. 60 crore. The then Bench led by Justice Anil Dave had found nothing “fruitful” in sending the duo to jail.

Later in 2017, in a 2:1 majority judgement, a SC Bench sent Gopal Ansal back to jail with a one-year sentence, while Sushil Ansal, who is now in his late 70s was spared.

Smriti Upavan, a black granite structure with the names and date of birth of the 59 victims etched on it, stands near the ill-fated cinema hall reminding the tragedy.

For the relatives of Uphaar victims, the fight is far from over. There are several other cases pertaining to the tragedy still raging in the courts today.

Among the pending cases is one filed by the Ansals seeking desealing of the theatre premises.

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It said the Ansals had taken the defence in the main case that they had no involvement in the day-to-day functioning.

The tampering was detected for the first time on July 20, 2002, and a departmental enquiry was initiated against Dinesh Chand Sharma. He was suspended and terminated from services on June 25, 2004.

The fire had broken out at the Uphaar cinema during the screening of the Hindi film ‘Border’ on June 13, 1997, claiming 59 lives.