A Delhi Court has sentenced real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal to seven years in prison for tampering with evidence in the 1997 Uphaar Cinema Fire Tragedy Case. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 2.5 crore on each of the Ansals.
The sentence was awarded by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma noting that the case is one of the biggest cases of his career and after thinking over for many nights the accused deserved punishment.
They were convicted under Section 201 (tampering of evidence), Section 120B (punishment of criminal conspiracy) and Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant) of Indian Penal Code on October 8.
The court had noted that the two convicts had destroyed critical documents which were capable of proving their complicity in the said case.
“The accused persons destroyed the documents “through a meticulous planning in order to escape punishment by scuttling trial process and as such fiddled with our judicial system with great impunity,” the court had observed.
The bench further noted, “the accused persons attacked on the very purity and sanctity of the justice system and their misconception that they will get away with their nefarious design from punishment has been exposed to the world at large.”
Fifteen-nine people had died and over 100 had been injured in the fire that broke out at Uphaar cinema hall in Delhi’s Green Park area on June 13, 1997. It was found that exit doors of the cinema hall were blocked to add more seats.
