Uphaar Cinema was like a bomb waiting to explode: CBI

New Delhi, Sep 26 (UNI) Fifty-nine people were killed in the Uphaar cinema fire of 1997 because safety norms were given a go by and renovation works in violation of the building plan were carried out there, the CBI said today.

Keeping commercial interests uppermost, the Uphaar management carried out changes in the hall, including an increase in the number of seats from 250 to 302, threatening public safety, CBI counsel Harish Salve told the trial court.

Basing his arguments on various expert reports, he said most deaths occurred due to asphyxiation because ventilators were blocked inside the hall. The forensic report found that fire extinguishers inside the hall were not in working condition.

The transformer from which fire spread was kept on a raised platform. Oil spilled from there causing the fire to spread to a parked car.

The hall was like a bomb and it was like a furnace inside it, Salve argued.

He defended the fire service personnel saying they had reached the hall within minutes, but could not save the 59 people because of negligence by the management.

The arguments would continue over the next two days.

UNI XC VA VV1923