Uphaar fire tragedy: Delhi court directs framing of charges against cinema hall owner for procuring passport on ‘false information’
In 2015, the Supreme Court had slapped a fine of Rs 60 crore on Ansal and his brother in lieu of a custodial sentence which was deposited with the Delhi government.
A Delhi court last week ordered framing of charges against Sushil Ansal, convicted in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire that killed 59 people, for alleged procurement of passports on “false information”.
“The Accused thus, has induced the authority into acting in a certain way based on false/deficient information, benefiting therefrom, by way of gaining wrongfully by being issued the passport, thereby committing offences punishable under Sections 420 IPC and Section 12 of the Passports Act,” said Chief Judicial Magistrate Shriya Agrawal on November 28.
The case stems from a Delhi High Court order passed in December 2018 on a petition filed by the Association of the Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT).
Ansal had allegedly concealed the details of criminal cases pending against him and had obtained multiple passports by making false declarations or by suppressing material facts.
“In the sworn affidavit filed by him with the passport application filed by him in the year 2013, in the teeth of Section 12 of the Passports Act, as also to have concealed other cases pending against him in the undertaking given with application filed in the year 2018, to induce under misrepresentation, the RPO into issuing the Passport at the relevant time,” the court said.
The prosecution had argued before the court that Ansal applied for a passport on multiple occasions in 2000, 2004 and 2013 by suppressing facts. It was also argued that in 2013, he had allegedly filed an affidavit, affirming falsely that there were neither any criminal proceedings pending against him nor any order of conviction against him.
In July 2022, a Delhi court had granted relief to Ansal, ordering his release from jail in a case of tampering with evidence in the Uphaar fire tragedy. The court had observed that a trial court had earlier passed a sentence that was “punitive and retributive in nature” to teach him a lesson. A magistrate court had also convicted him and awarded a seven-year jail term and imposed a fine of Rs 2.25 crore.
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In 2015, the Supreme Court had slapped a fine of Rs 60 crore on Ansal and his brother in lieu of a custodial sentence which was deposited with the Delhi government.
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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