NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the city police to a plea by a former employee of the Ansal family seeking the setting aside of his conviction and sentence for tampering with evidence in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire tragedy case.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav issued the notice and asked the Delhi Police to respond to the plea by P P Batra. Batra has already completed his jail term in this case which pertained to the fire incident on June 13, 1997, that left 59 people dead.
Besides Batra, 83-year-old Sushil Ansal of the Ansal family that owned the theatre had also approached the high court seeking to set aside his conviction and sentence. On October 11, the high court issued a bailable warrant against Batra as neither he nor any lawyer on his behalf was present in the court during the hearing on the victims’ plea to enhance the punishment of the convicts in the evidence tampering case.
A magisterial court had on November 8, 2021, awarded a seven-year jail term to the real estate barons. The District Judge had on July 19 modified the magisterial court’s order on the 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.
It imposed a fine of Rs 3 crore each on Sushil and Gopal Ansal, Rs 30,000 on Batra and Rs 60,000 on Sharma.