The Hindu : New Delhi News : Ansal brothers seek release of passports

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Thursday, Jan 17, 2008
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New Delhi

Ansal brothers seek release of passports

Staff Reporter

The court will pass a final order next Tuesday

NEW DELHI: Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal, convicted by a court in the Uphaar cinema fire tragedy case last November and now out on bail, have applied to a city court seeking release of their passports. The court will pass a final order next Tuesday.

Seeking re-possession of the passports, counsel for the Ansal brothers argued before Additional Sessions Judge Mamata Sehgal that since the two were out on bail and the case had nothing to do with their passports, they were entitled to have their travel documents back.

However, counsel for the Central Bureau of Investigation argued that returning passports was a matter that fell within the purview of the Delhi High Court and not the trial court. The court heard both the sides and fixed next Tuesday for a final order.

The Ansal brothers had been convicted of negligence in the Uphaar fire tragedy -- in which 59 people were killed and several injured in 1997 -- by the trial court in November last year and sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment. Subsequently they got bail from the High Court even as they challenged their conviction.

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