Shivani Gadhavi –
Published On: November 08, 2021 at 15:55 IST
The Delhi Patiala House Court on the 8th of November sentenced Sushil Ansal and his brother Gopal Ansal to 7 years of imprisonment for tampering with evidence related to the Uphaar Cinema Fire Tragedy case.
Pankaj Sharma, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of the Delhi Patiala House Court announced the sentence alongside imposing a fine of ₹2.25 crore on each of the Ansal brothers.
The Court stated in the order, “It is a long case. Very hard to reach a decision given the complexities involved. After thinking for night after night, the Court thinks the accused deserve punishment. They will serve 7 years of jail time and a Rs. 2.25 crore fine each on the Ansals. “
The Ansal brothers, along with court employee Dinesh Chand Sharma and others PP Batra, Har Swaroop Panwar, Anoop Singh, and Dharamvir Malhotra, were charged with tampering with evidence in the case.Malhotra and Pawar died during the Trial.
Dinesh Chand Sharma, PP Batra and Anoop Singh were also awarded 7 years of imprisonment.
Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal both were convicted and sentenced to two years of imprisonment by the Supreme Court (SC) at that time. The SC had released under the fulfilment of a condition in which they had to pay a ₹30 crore fine for the construction of a ‘trauma centre’ in Delhi.
The Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy occurred due to a fire that broke in the cinema on the 13th of July 1997 which killed 59 people, who were there to watch the movie ‘Border’.
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