Panaji (Goa) [India], December 11 (ANI): The Goa Police investigation into the recent fire incident has found that the Luthra brothers booked flight tickets to Thailand just as emergency teams were struggling to contain the blaze and rescue those trapped inside.
According to officials, the brothers made the booking on the MakeMyTrip (MMT) platform at 1:17 am on December 7, a time when both Goa Police and Goa Fire Services were actively engaged in firefighting operations at the site.
“Even as the Goa Police and Goa Fire Services were battling to douse the fire and rescue the people trapped inside, the Luthra brothers were preparing to flee the country,” officials added.
Meanwhile, the arrested accused in the tragic Arpora nightclub fire case, Ajay Gupta, was brought to Goa on Thursday and is being taken to the Anjuna Police Station by the Goa Police team.
Gupta, one of the four owners of the ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub where a devastating blaze claimed 25 lives, including five tourists and 20 staff members, on December 6, was granted a 36-hour transit remand by Delhi’s Saket Court on December 10. He has been arrested in the Goa Club fire incident, which claimed the lives of 25 people. Another accused, Gaurav and Saurav Luthra, have absconded to Thailand.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police informed the Rohini Court that the accused brothers, Gaurav and Saurav Luthra, had left the country soon after the Goa club fire tragedy and that a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) had already been issued against them by a Goa court.
Opposing their plea for protection, the State submitted that the brothers were deliberately evading investigation and should not be granted any interim relief.
The accused, however, told the court through their counsel that they were apprehended upon landing in India. They argued that they had travelled to Thailand for work-related reasons and now wished to return but feared custodial action. Their lawyers emphasised that the applicants only sought brief transit protection to approach the competent court in Goa.
The Rohini Court took up the transit anticipatory bail applications on Wednesday and questioned their maintainability, noting that the applicants were not presently within the territorial jurisdiction.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the inquiry report will be ready within eight days, even as the state begins disbursing compensation to victims’ families and intensifies safety audits and enforcement at entertainment venues.
The district administration demolished part of the Romeo Lane restaurant in Vagator, Goa. The restaurant is owned by Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra, who also own Birch by Romeo Lane. (ANI)