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Ansals denied permission to visit Uphaar site

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday denied Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal, accused in the Uphaar Cinema fire case, permission to visit the cinema building, the site of the tragedy.

Additional Sessions Judge Mamta Sehgal dismissed the application filed by the accused requesting the permission to inspect the cinema building in order to get the first hand assessment of the case.

The accused in their application had said that inspection was necessary to ``understand the real controversy'' and defend the case effectively. They had sought permission to inspect the premises through their advocates and their technical advisor--a civil engineer on the ground that the court had done so on August 19, 2006 on the directions of the High Court.

But only the investigating officer and the court staff were present during the inspection by the court. No accused persons or their counsels were allowed to be present at that time, the accused said.

The accused also had said that they had appointed Prem Kumar and Gurpreet Singh as their new counsels who were required to visit the building in order to appreciate the evidence on record. The prosecution opposed the Ansals' plea as motivated and intended to delay the trial saying that the court has already inspected the cinema building and a copy of the inspection note is available with the accused.

Fifty-nine people had died and several were injured in a fire which broke out on June 13, 1999 in the cinema hall during screening of the film ``Border''. - PTI

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