New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Friday dismissed a review petition by brothers Sushil and Gopal Ansal in the Uphaar tragedy case, paving the way for their trial for alleged destruction of evidence and other charges.
The court upheld the trial court’s order on the framing of charges including criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and destruction of evidence.
“The material on record gives rise to strong suspicion that the accused persons had committed the offences for which the charges were framed against them,” said Justice Siddharth Mridul.
He said the court chose to not interfere with the impugned order under its revisional jurisdiction as there were no circumstances warranting it.
The brothers along with two other accused had brought review petitions in the Delhi high court challenging the framing of charges in the Uphaar fire tragedy case.
A magisterial court had on 31 May, 2014 framed charges against seven accused for abetment of offence, causing disappearance of evidence, criminal breach of trust by public servant and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code, 1960 (IPC).
Uphaar cinema owner Gopal Ansal is undergoing his remaining time of a one-year prison sentence, factoring in the six months he served after the tragedy, in accordance with a ruling by the Supreme Court in February.
The Ansal brothers were initially sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by the trial court. This was reduced to one year by the Delhi high court on 19 December 2008.
On 18 August 2015, a bench comprising justices Anil Dave, Kurien Joseph and Adarsh Kumar Goel, convicted septuagenarians Sushil and Gopal Ansal of criminal negligence and fined them Rs30 crore each with no jail term.
Fifty-nine people, trapped in the balcony of the Uphaar theatre in south Delhi, died of asphyxia following a fire and over 100 were injured in a subsequent stampede on 13 June 1997 during the screening of the Hindi film Border. The Uphaar Cinema premises have remained sealed ever since.