Real estate barons Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal today moved the Supreme Court seeking de-sealing of the Uphaar cinema hall where 59 cine-goers had lost their lives in 1997 in a blaze when a Bollywood movie was being screened. The cinema hall has remained sealed since the tragedy.


A bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao said it will discuss the matter with Justice A R Dave, who had heard the petition in the case.


A trial court had sentenced the Ansal brothers to two-year rigorous imprisonment, in 2007. However, an year later the Delhi High Court reduced the sentence to one year. The Supreme Court upheld their conviction in the case in 2015 but considering their age and the period already spent by them in prison, it decided not to send them back to jail and rather asked the duo to pay a fine of Rs 30 crore each in lieu of a jail term.


The brother Sushil and Gopal Ansal, held guilty of criminal negligence had deposited Rs 60 crore with the Delhi government in adherence to the Supreme Courts order.