Delhi Police files fresh chargesheet against Sushil Ansal, convict in Uphaar cinema fire

Sushil Ansal, convicted in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire which killed 59 people, played a fraud on authorities by concealing information about criminal cases pending against him while getting his passport renewed, Delhi Police has told a court here in a charge sheet filed against him. In its 8-page charge sheet filed before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pankaj Sharma, police claimed that Ansal misled the government authority on oath that he has not been convicted in any criminal proceedings by any court. Police claimed that regarding the passport issued in 2013 to Ansal on a ‘‘Tatkaal’’ application, “it is found that an affidavit under the Tatkaal scheme required specific deposition by the applicant to the effect that there were no criminal proceedings pending against the applicant in any court of law or that she/ he has not been convicted by any court of law for any criminal offence in past.” “In 2013, this affidavit was filed by the accused Sushil Ansal along with his application and he has on oath misled the Government Authority (RPO) that he has not been convicted in any criminal proceedings by any Court,” said the charge sheet, filed in February this year but has come to public knowledge only now. The matter has been adjourned for 31 January, 2022. The case was lodged on the direction of the Delhi High Court while hearing a petition by Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy alleging that Ansal concealed or gave false information to the authorities for a renewal of his passport. A fire at the Uphaar cinema during the screening of Hindi film Border on 13 June, 1997 had claimed 59 lives.