1997 Uphaar cinema fire: HC asks police to reply to Sushil Ansal’s plea in evidence tampering case

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought response of the city police on a plea by real estate tycoon Sushil Ansal seeking to set aside his conviction and sentence for tampering with evidence in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire case.

Sushil Ansal has already completed his jail term in this case pertaining to the fire incident on June 13, 1997 that left 59 dead.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued notice to the Delhi Police on the 83-year-old Ansal’s petition and listed the matter for further hearing on December 13.

Meanwhile, the high court issued bailable warrant against Ansal’s then employee P P Batra, who was also convicted in the evidence tampering case, as neither he nor any lawyer on his behalf was present in the court during the hearing on the victims’ plea to enhance punishment of the convicts in the evidence tampering case.

The high court was hearing two separate pleas – one by Sushil Ansal challenging his conviction and sentence and another by the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) seeking enhancement of the punishment awarded to the convicts in the evidence tampering case.

A magisterial court had on November 8, 2021, awarded seven-year jail term to the real estate barons.

The District Judge had on July 19 modified the magisterial 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.

It imposed a fine of Rs 3 crore on Sushil and Gopal Ansal each and Rs 30,000 on Batra and Rs 60,000 on Sharma.

Sushil Ansal said he has deposited the fine amount of Rs 3 crore in compliance with the trial court order which was directed to be disbursed to AVUT and sought a direction to the association to give security/undertaking to the tune of Rs 3 crore qua the fine deposited by him till the disposal of his petition.

“No loss whatsoever has been caused to AVUT from the alleged wrongdoing, therefore, granting it compensation to the tune of Rs 3 crore is not only erroneous but highly excessive and disproportionate,” he said in the plea said.

Challenging the sessions court’s order, the petition alleged that the appellate court has passed the July 18 judgment on the basis of mere probabilities without appreciating that the prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and in the present case, there is no evidence, direct or indirect, linking the petitioner to the alleged wrongdoing.

Sushil Ansal said the appellate court has failed to appreciate that he is not the beneficiary of the alleged mutilation or tampering or obliteration.

“The appellate court has painted the petitioner with the same brush as his brother Gopal Ansal and has clubbed all the allegedly mutilated/ tampered documents in one category, that is, ‘documents pertaining to Ansals’ in the judgment for returning findings qua the petitioner,” he said in the petition.

In the petition filed by AVUT, the high court had earlier asked Ansal brothers and the State to file their responses.

The counsel for the state had submitted that they support AVUT’s petition and would file an appeal challenging the trial court’s order releasing Ansals on the period already undergone in jail.

The petitioner organisation, represented through senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, has challenged the trial court’s order on sentence and sought enhancement of the jail term from the period already undergone to the original sentence of seven years awarded to the convicts earlier.

“It is direct interference in the administration of justice and thus requires serious consideration while sentencing a convict for committing the offence of misappropriating the court files and tampering with the most crucial evidence, purported to be used for convicting an accused person,” the plea, filed through AVUT chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy, said.

While upholding the conviction of the Ansal brothers, the trial court had acquitted one co-accused, Anup Singh, in the case.

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.

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

According to the charge sheet, the documents tampered with included a police memo giving details of recoveries immediately after the incident, Delhi Fire Service records pertaining to 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 Rs 50 lakh, issued by Sushil Ansal to himself, 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.

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