Plea to restrain Sushil Ansal from going abroad without Supreme Court nod

NEW DELHI: An application was today moved in the Supreme Court seeking to restrict the right of real estate baron Sushil Ansal, who is convicted in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire tragedy, to travel abroad on medical grounds without its permission.

The application filed by the Association of Victims of Uphaar Fire Tragedy (AVUT) was mentioned before the bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam which assigned it to the bench headed by Justice T S Thakur that had upheld the conviction of Sushil and Gopal Ansal for the tragedy that claimed the lives of 59 people.

However, after lunch recess, when the matter came before the bench of Justice Thakur, the AVUT was told that it cannot be heard by two-judge bench since the issue of quantum of sentence has been referred to the three-judge bench.

Later, the matter was against mentioned before the bench of CJI which posted it for hearing tomorrow.

AVUT submitted that Sushil Ansal had yesterday sought permission of the trial court for personal exemption to appear in a case of alleged tampering of evidence arising out of the main case of Uphaar fire tradegy.

He has sought permission to travel to USA for undergoing treatment of Hepatitis C.

The Association contended that since Ansals have been convicted by the apex court they cannot leave the country without the permission of the top court.

Further, it sought imposition of suitable conditions on the bail enjoyed by Ansals as no conditions were stipulated when they were granted bail on January 30, 2009.