New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS): The Delhi Police on Tuesday told the High Court that real estate barons Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal cannot take advantage of their old age in their plea seeking suspension of the seven-year jail terms in the evidence tampering case related to the 1997 Uphaar cinema hall fire tragedy.

Delhi Police's counsel, advocate Dayan Krishnan also submitted that the duo had made every attempt to delay the trial in the matter during the course of hearing in the matter before a bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad.

The bench posted the matter for further hearing on January 14 and said the copy of the trial court record be placed before it before the next date of hearing.

On December 15, the high court had issued notice on the pleas filed by Sushil Ansal (83) and Gopal Ansal (73) challenging a trial court that had dismissed their interim pleas seeking suspension of the seven-year jail terms in the Uphaar case.

On December 3, Additional Sessions Judge Anil Antil observed that the trial court itself cannot be the sole criteria to grant relief to the Ansals when they were involved in the procrastinated trial of the case.

On November 8, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court, Dr Pankaj Sharma, had sentenced Ansals to seven years imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs 2.25 crore on both in the evidence tampering case.

The court also pronounced a seven-year jail term to former court staffers P.P. Batra, Anoop Singh, and Dinesh Chandra Sharma while slapping them with a fine of Rs 3 lakh each.

On June 13, 1997, halfway through the screening of Hindi film "Border", a fire broke out in the Uphaar cinema, located in Green Park in south Delhi, killing 59 people in one of the worst tragedies.