NEW DELHI: Real estate barons Sushil and Gopal Ansal surrendered before a Delhi court in compliance with the Supreme Court order canceling their bail in the case of Uphaar fire tragedy which claimed 59 lives. Ansal brothers surrendered before Additional Sessions Judge I K Kochhar at the Patiala House district courts.
Two managers of the Uphaar theatre, Ajit Chowdhary and Nirmal Chopra, also surrendered before the court. An apex court bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi had ordered their arrest after canceling their bail.
The apex Court while canceling the bail of the convicts had taken a strong exception to the alleged tampering with the judicial records of the case by the accused persons. The bail of the convicts was cancelled on a petition filed by Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) challenging the order of the Delhi High Court.
The trial court on November, 20, 2007 had convicted the Ansal brothers along with three others under Section 304-A IPC (causing death due to rash and negligent act) and had sentenced them to two years imprisonment.
Seven others including Ajit Chowdhary and Nirmal Chopra, managers of the theatre whose bail was also cancelled, were convicted under Section 304 IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
Others convicted under section 304 IPC were -- Radha Krishan Sharma, Manmohan Unniyal (cinema's gatekeeper), Brij Mohan Satija, A K Gera and Bir Singh (all DVB officials).