Uphaar Case: Court issues summons to Gopal Ansal

A Delhi court, on Friday, issued a production warrant against real estate baron Gopal Ansal in connection to the tampering of evidence in the 1997 Uphaar fire tragedy.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass issued the production warrant and directed the accused to be present on August 16.

The court rejected all the contentions raised by the defence counsel who stated that there was a security threat to their client.

Meanwhile, the court also directed Sushil Ansal to file a response to a plea filed by Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT). The plea stated that there were apprehensions that Ansal gave false information to the authorities to get his passport renewed.

The court also put two persons - Praveen Shankar Sharma and Deepak Kathpalia - on trial in a separate case of alleged harassment of AVUT chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy.

The duo had passed lewd remarks against her inside the Patiala House court premises on the evening of May 10, 2007. Sharma and Kathpalia were then employed by the owners of the Uphaar cinema hall in the capital.

Krishnamoorthy, who lost two children in the Uphaar fire tragedy, has been engulfed in a legal tangle on behalf of the victims' families for the last 20 years.

On June 13, 1997, when the Hindi film Border was being screened, a massive fire had engulfed the Uphaar cinema, killing 59 people and injuring over 100.

The theatre owners, Gopal Ansal and his brother Sushil, and five other persons are accused of tampering with evidence in the case, pending since 2006.