“Tampering with judicial records is a crime worse than murder or dacoity,” the Supreme Court said today while cancelling the bail of Sushil and Gopal Ansal, owners of Uphaar cinema where 59 cinegoers were killed in a fire tragedy in 1997.
The court directed the real estate barons, who were sentenced to two years' imprisonment and granted bail later in the fire tragedy case, to surrender before ACMM at Patiala House district courts by 4 pm tomorrow. The apex court also cancelled the bail granted to Ajit Chowdhary and Nirmal Chopra, managers of the theatre, who were awarded seven years of imprisonment in the fire tragedy case, and also directed them to surrender.
A bench of Justices B N Agrawal and G S Singhvi, which initially ordered "forthwith arrest" of the accused, however, on the plea of senior counsel Fali S Nariman, modified its order and said that the four shall surrender before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala, "latest" by Thursday.
The apex court passed the orders on a petition filed by the Association of Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT).
