A Patiala House Court today sentenced the Ansal brothers to seven years’ imprisonment with a fine of Rs 2.25 crore each for tampering with evidence in the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy case.
On October 8, the Patiala House Court had convicted five people, including brothers Sushil and Gopal Ansal, of tampering with evidence in the case. Along with the Ansal brothers, the court had convicted Dinesh Chand Sharma, a former employee of the court, P.P. Batra and Anoop Singh.
An FIR was registered in this matter on the orders of the Delhi High Court in which a case was registered for committing an offense under Sections 120-B, 109, 201 and 409 of the IPC. The Uphaar fire killed 59 people on June 13, 1997 during the screening of Hindi film Border. The case was filed in the High Court by Neelam Krishnamurthy, the president of the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT).
While hearing the sentence on the Uphaar case, the judge commented that this matter was going on for a long time. Due to the complexities of the case, it was not easy to reach conclusion in this case.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma said that after deliberating on the matter for several nights, he could come to the conclusion that the guilty deserved punishment.
Apart from this, CMM Pankaj Sharma sentenced former court employee Dinesh Chand Sharma, P.P. Batra and Anoop Singh for seven years each.