Uphaar Fire victims, CBI seek probe

New Delhi, April 21: Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra appearing for the CBI today pressed before the Delhi High Court for a thorough inquiry into the alleged tampering with the evidence during the trial in Uphaar Fire tragedy.

Senior Counsel K T S Tulsi appearing for the AVUT (The Association of the Victims of Uphaar) before Justice R C Jain submitted that loss of incriminating documents was deliberate and not a coincidence as pleaded by RK Naseem, counsel for the Ansals.

He also submitted that Naseem's plea couldn't stand scrutiny.

The documents lost had incriminated the Ansals, owner of the Uphaar cinema, he argued wondering how coincidence could be far too much.

They want us to believe that the documents disappeared as if they had their own minds and wings, he submitted.

He also said that the missing documents pertained to minutes of board meetings of the Uphaar cinema, indicating that Ansals were 'actually' managing and controlling the board of the cinema hall.

Counsel appearing for HS Panwar, Delhi Fire officer, however continued his argument on challenging the locus standi of the fire victims for filing the case.

The trial court had framed charges against 16 accused, including proprietors of Ansals properties Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal, for their alleged involvement in the Uphaar fire tragedy on June 13, 1997 which left 59 dead and more than 100 injured.

UNI