An MCD officer, who had inspected cinema halls in the capital a year before the Uphaar cinema tragedy, on Wednesday told a city court that there were several deviations and alterations in the theatre from its building plan.
Deposing as a witness before additional district and sessions judge Mamta Sehgal, Junior Engineer (JE) Ram Kumar Sharma said that he along with other JEs Vinod Kumar and R K Gupta had visited Uphaar cinema and six other cinema halls on April 29, 1996 on the directions of executive engineer (building) and prepared the report. In my report I have mentioned the deviations, alterations in Uphaar cinema with reference to the objections raised in the enclosure received from the licencing department, Sharma said. Prosecution had alleged that these deviations had caused hindrance in the egress of viewers when the fire broke out in Uphaar cinema during a show of Hindi blockbuster movie 'Border' on June 13, 1997. Altogether 59 persons died of burn injuries and suffocation while scores were injured. He said that the inspection was carried out after receiving a letter on February 23, 1996 from Vimla Mehra, who was then Additional Commissioner of Police (licencing), New Delhi.
Another witness R K Gupta said that 11 objections were mentioned in respect of Uphaar cinema.
Bureau Report