The police told the Delhi High Court Thursday that officials who had handled the passport application of real estate baron Sushil Ansal, convicted in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire incident that claimed 59 lives, have not yet joined the investigation into how he got the travel document despite his conviction.
In a status report submitted before Justice Najmi Waziri, Delhi Police has said that one of the two regional passport officials had "lifted" the 'stop' imposed on Ansal's application despite there being adverse reports against him, and the other had referred it to the policy department.
It told the court the statement of both officials needed to be recorded, but one was on maternity leave and the senior of the other had not allowed the police to record his statement and sought an order to them to cooperate with the probe.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) through its chairperson Neelam Krishnamoorthy seeking a CBI probe into the alleged criminal misconduct by passport and police officials in issuing the travel document to Ansal.
Krishnamoorthy, who lost her two children in the tragedy, said the court has allowed the police to carry out investigation by visiting the concerned Regional Passport Office at R K Puram on November 28.
During the hearing, senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for AVUT, told the court almost a year has gone by since it directed the Delhi Police to investigate how Ansal was given VVIP treatment by issuance of a 'F' or fast token.
The court had also asked how his application status was changed from pre-verification status to post-verification and the stop imposed on it was also removed.
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The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in its affidavit answering the court's queries, has claimed "no special facility was granted" to Ansal.
It has said the F-tokens was granted at discretion of passport officer for expeditious submission of documents and not to relax any legal requirement and the facility is extended to all kinds of applicants, including senior citizens.
The ministry said in the present case the token was issued to Ansal as he was a senior citizen and also a businessman, but "he was not treated as a VIP".
Regarding conversion from pre-police verification to post verification, the ministry has said it was done as Ansal had furnished a no objection certificate (NOC) from the concerned trial court.
Since the adverse reports pertained to the FIR for which NOC had been submitted, Ansal's application status was changed from pre-verification to post verification.
The ministry also said criminal complaints, which are under investigation, are not a constraint in issuance of a passport and therefore, were not considered in present case.
Delhi Police, in its adverse report, had also mentioned some complaints against Ansal which were under investigation.
The court had earlier termed as "inexplicable" how the pre-verification status was changed to post-verification and the 'stop' put on Ansal's passport application cleared, despite two adverse reports sent by Delhi Police regarding him to the Regional Passport Office.
When there was such a clear communication on record from the end of the police, "there was no question of the verification being changed from pre-verification to post-verification because the passport office had full knowledge of the facts of the case", the court had said.
The court had on December 17 last year directed the agency to lodge an FIR in connection with Ansal getting a favourable verification report in 2013 when he applied for a fresh passport.
Delhi Police had, thereafter, lodged an FIR against Ansal and the police officers who had given the favourable verification report.
Krishnamoorthy has been fighting a legal battle on behalf of the victims' families for over 20 years now.
A fire at Uphaar Cinema during the screening of Hindi film 'Border' on June 13, 1997 had killed 59 people.
The apex court in 2017 had asked Gopal Ansal, who was also convicted in the case, to undergo the remaining of one-year jail term in the case, while his elder brother Sushil Ansal got relief from incarceration with a prison term already undergone by him in view of age-related complications.