<p>A Delhi court Monday upheld the conviction of real estate tycoons Sushil and Gopal Ansal for tampering with evidence in a case related to the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire, which had claimed 59 lives.</p>.<p>District Judge Dharmesh Sharma dismissed the appeal filed by real estate barons and two others challenging their conviction by a magisterial court.</p>.<p>The court will hear arguments on the quantum of punishment on Tuesday.</p>.<p>The court, however, acquitted one co-accused, Anup Singh, in the case and granted him bail.</p>.<p>A magisterial court had convicted and awarded 7-year jail terms to Ansals in the case, besides imposing a fine of Rs 2.25 crore on each of them.</p>.<p>Besides Ansals, the court had also awarded 7-year jail terms to former court staff Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others -- P P Batra and Anoop Singh -- and had imposed a fine of three lakh rupees each on them.</p>.<p>The case is related to tampering with the evidence in the main fire tragedy case in which the Ansals were convicted and sentenced to a 2-year jail term by the Supreme Court.</p>.<p>The apex court, however, released them taking into account the prison time they had done on the condition that they pay a Rs 30 crore fine each, to be used for building a trauma centre in the national capital.</p>.<p>As per the charge sheet, the documents tampered with included a police memo giving details of recoveries immediately after the incident, Delhi Fire Service records about repair of transformer installed inside Uphaar, minutes of Managing Director's meetings, and four cheques.</p>.<p>Out of the six sets of documents, a cheque of Rs 50 lakh, issued by Sushil Ansal to self, and minutes of the MD's meetings, proved beyond doubt that the two brothers were handling the day-to-day affairs of the theatre at the relevant time, the charge sheet had said.</p>.<p>It said the Ansals had taken the defence in the main case that they had no involvement in the day-to-day functioning.</p>.<p>The tampering was detected for the first time on July 20, 2002, and a departmental enquiry was initiated against Dinesh Chand Sharma. He was suspended and terminated from services on June 25, 2004.</p>.<p>The fire had broken out at the Uphaar cinema during the screening of the Hindi film 'Border' on June 13, 1997, claiming 59 lives.</p>
<p>A Delhi court Monday upheld the conviction of real estate tycoons Sushil and Gopal Ansal for tampering with evidence in a case related to the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire, which had claimed 59 lives.</p>.<p>District Judge Dharmesh Sharma dismissed the appeal filed by real estate barons and two others challenging their conviction by a magisterial court.</p>.<p>The court will hear arguments on the quantum of punishment on Tuesday.</p>.<p>The court, however, acquitted one co-accused, Anup Singh, in the case and granted him bail.</p>.<p>A magisterial court had convicted and awarded 7-year jail terms to Ansals in the case, besides imposing a fine of Rs 2.25 crore on each of them.</p>.<p>Besides Ansals, the court had also awarded 7-year jail terms to former court staff Dinesh Chand Sharma and two others -- P P Batra and Anoop Singh -- and had imposed a fine of three lakh rupees each on them.</p>.<p>The case is related to tampering with the evidence in the main fire tragedy case in which the Ansals were convicted and sentenced to a 2-year jail term by the Supreme Court.</p>.<p>The apex court, however, released them taking into account the prison time they had done on the condition that they pay a Rs 30 crore fine each, to be used for building a trauma centre in the national capital.</p>.<p>As per the charge sheet, the documents tampered with included a police memo giving details of recoveries immediately after the incident, Delhi Fire Service records about repair of transformer installed inside Uphaar, minutes of Managing Director's meetings, and four cheques.</p>.<p>Out of the six sets of documents, a cheque of Rs 50 lakh, issued by Sushil Ansal to self, and minutes of the MD's meetings, proved beyond doubt that the two brothers were handling the day-to-day affairs of the theatre at the relevant time, the charge sheet had said.</p>.<p>It said the Ansals had taken the defence in the main case that they had no involvement in the day-to-day functioning.</p>.<p>The tampering was detected for the first time on July 20, 2002, and a departmental enquiry was initiated against Dinesh Chand Sharma. He was suspended and terminated from services on June 25, 2004.</p>.<p>The fire had broken out at the Uphaar cinema during the screening of the Hindi film 'Border' on June 13, 1997, claiming 59 lives.</p>