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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday allowed renewal of passport for 1 year of real estate tycoon Gopal Ansal convicted in an evidence tampering case related to the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire incident.

Ansal had sought renewal of his passport for 10 years, contending it is the normal validity period of an ordinary passport.

Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan and Neelam Krishnamoorthy appearing for the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) submitted that Gopal Ansal’s passport could be renewed in terms of office memorandum no. VI/401/1/5/209 dated October 10, 2009.

“Let the passport of Gopal Ansal be renewed with the aforementioned office memorandum for a period of 1 year”, the bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma ordered.

Gopal Ansal, in his application, stated that he needed to travel abroad for business meetings for which he had to get his passport renewed urgently. Ansal’s passport expired on December 12, 2020. He stated that he would undertake that once his passport is renewed he would seek permission of the high court before leaving the country. 

Notably, on August 11, the High Court dismissed an application by Ansal seeking an urgent hearing of his plea for renewal of his passport for 10 years.

The judge had then said that an early hearing was not possible in the matter. “I consider that the board (workload) does not permit an early date. The application is dismissed. List on September 4, the date already fixed in the matter,” the court had said.

The present application was filed in a pending petition by Gopal Ansal in which he has sought setting aside of the conviction and sentence for tampering with evidence. He has already completed his jail term in the case which pertained to the fire incident of June 13, 1997.

Besides him, Sushil Ansal, his brother, their former employee P P Batra, and former court staff Dinesh Chandra Sharma have also approached the high court seeking setting aside of their conviction and sentence. The same is listed for final hearing on December 4, 2023 before the same bench. 

AVUT has already filed a petition in the high court for enhancement of the punishment awarded to the convicts in the evidence tampering case. It is to be noted that the sessions court had on July 19, 2022 modified the magisterial court’s order on sentence and ordered the release of Sushil and Gopal Ansal, Dinesh Chandra Sharma and P P Batra against the period they had already served in jail since November 8, 2021.

Case Title: Gopal Ansal v. State of NCT of Delhi & Anr.