The Hindu : New Delhi News : Uphaar cinema hall owners summoned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 16, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Uphaar cinema hall owners summoned

Staff Reporter

For allegedly removing, tampering court documents

The Ansals, other accused asked to appear before the court on May 2
Four other accused are H. S. Panwar, Prem Prakash Batra, D. V. Malhotra and Anoop Singh

NEW DELHI: A court here on Friday summoned Uphaar cinema hall owners Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal and four others in the evidence tampering case.

Taking cognisance of the charge-sheet filed by the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi police in January this year for allegedly removing, tampering and mutilating important documents of the Uphaar fire tragedy case in conspiracy with a clerk in a trial court here in 2003, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) directed the Ansals and the other accused in the case to appear before the court on May 2.

The investigating agency has charge-sheeted them under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information to screen offenders) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code.

The other accused being prosecuted in the case are H. S. Panwar, Prem Prakash Batra, D. V. Malhotra and Anoop Singh. The charge-sheet said that court clerk Dinesh Chand Sharma was the henchman of the Ansals. They had entered into a conspiracy with him for tampering with the evidence. The charge was prima facie made out against the Ansals on the ground that Prem Prakash Batra, an employee of the cinema hall owners, had got the clerk a job following his dismissal from the court service at twice the normal salary in A-Plus Security Agency which also provided security services to a company under the control of the Ansals, the charge-sheet said.

Sushil Ansal also provided a job to accused H. S. Panwar, a former Delhi Fire Service employee, in his company, Sushant Estate, after his retirement.

“Evidence has come on record to prove that accused Panwar has committed serious acts of commission and omission during his service by rendering services to the Ansals,” the charge-sheet said.

The EOW had registered the case in 2006 on a Delhi High Court direction on a petition by Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy convener Neelam Krishnamurthy.

The removal and tampering with the papers came to light when the public prosecutor in the case had in 2003 noticed that several important documents filed along with the charge-sheet were missing from the court record of the case or had been tampered with or mutilated by tearing off certain portions or sprinkling ink on them. The prosecutor had brought this to the notice of the court, and it had then ordered an inquiry into it and ordered dismissal of the clerk.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi