As a devastating fire tore through the Birch By Romeo Lane nightclub in Goa, killing 25 people, its co-owners Saurav and Gaurav Luthra were attending a wedding in Delhi. Instead of returning to the state after learning of the tragedy, the brothers quickly prepared to leave the country.
Court documents filed in Goa reveal that the duo booked flight tickets to Phuket at 1:17 am on December 7—barely an hour after the fire erupted—and left India by 5:20 am the same morning.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
By Thursday, officials confirmed that the Luthra brothers had been detained in Thailand even as a Delhi court rejected their anticipatory transit bail pleas. The court observed that their conduct, combined with the seriousness of the charges, weighed heavily against granting relief. “They left, they concealed, and they are now seeking leniency,” the Goa government’s lawyer argued, stressing that the brothers fled immediately after the incident and were evading due legal process.
According to Goa Police, the two are booked on charges including causing injury leading to death, manslaughter, and murder. Investigators allege that they organised a fire show at the nightclub “without taking proper care and caution and without providing fire safety equipment or other essential safety measures,” leading to the catastrophic blaze.
