New Delhi, Sep 18 - Delhi High Court Friday upheld the life sentence for the 10 police officials convicted for shooting down two innocent businessmen in Connaught Place here 12 years ago.

A division bench of Justices B.N. Chaturvedi and G.S. Sistani upheld the life term for then assistant commissioner of police (ACP) S.S. Rathi and nine others for gunning down Pradeep Goyal and Jagjit Singh on the Barakhamba Road March 31, 1997.

A city court in October 2007 held all 10 policemen guilty of gunning down the businessmen.

Police approached the high court saying the shootout was a case of mistaken identity and not a conspiracy as the victims were mistakenly identified as Yaseen, a dreaded Uttar Pradesh gangster, and an associate of his.

Besides Rathi, those sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life include then inspector Anil Kumar, sub-inspector Ashok Rana, head constables Shiv Kumar, Tejpal Singh, Mahavir Singh, and constables Sumer Singh, Subhash Chand, Sunil Kumar and Kothari Ram.