By IANS,
New Delhi : A city court Wednesday issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on its clean chit given to former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Amod Kanth in the 1997 Uphaar fire tragedy. Kanth was accused of allowing extra seats to be installed in the theatre.
District and Sessions Judge S.P. Garg issued notice to the CBI on a petition filed by the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) against the investigating agency’s report that it did not find anything incriminating against Kanth. The CBI has to reply by July 28.
In its report, the probe agency had said that there was no witness to the fact that it was Kanth who allowed extra seats in the theatre for any consideration.
Kanth, the then Deputy Commissioner of Police (Licencing), had allegedly allowed retention of 37 extra seats in the theatre in 1979 in violation of the Cinematograph Act.
These extra seats had consequently blocked the exits at the balcony of the theatre where 59 movie watchers died of asphyxia as they could not go out when fire engulfed it during the screening of Hindi blockbuster movie “Border” on June 13, 1997.