Goa nightclub fire: Court grants bail to Luthra brothers; to remain jailed in second case

A sessions court in Mapusa, Goa, on Wednesday granted bail to Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, owners of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub, concerning the tragic fire last December that claimed 25 lives.

However, the Luthra brothers will stay behind bars following their Monday arrest in a separate forgery investigation.

Shortly after the 6 December 2025 blaze at the Arpora-based club, the pair fled to Thailand. They were subsequently deported to India on 17 December and taken into custody by Anjuna Police.

Allegations suggested the establishment operated without the necessary permits and ignored multiple safety regulations.

Defence attorney Parag Rao confirmed that Additional Sessions Judge Dvijple Patkar granted the brothers conditional bail regarding the fire incident.

Nevertheless, Mapusa Police took them into renewed custody this past Monday for an alleged forgery scheme. Despite the favourable bail ruling in the homicide case, they would continue to remain in prison in the second case.

The siblings are accused of falsifying documents to secure a Health Department No Objection Certificate (NOC), which was then used to obtain an Excise License for the nightclub. Last week, the sessions court denied their anticipatory bail requests for the forgery matter, and on Monday, they were remanded to Mapusa Police custody for a four-day period.

Authorities have submitted a charge sheet for alleged culpable homicide naming 13 individuals, including the three proprietors: Saurabh Luthra, Gaurav Luthra, and Ajay Gupta. Notably, a Mapusa court granted bail to Gupta last month.

Gupta, who was arrested in New Delhi over three months ago, secured bail, his lawyer Rohan Desai told ANI.

The government initiated criminal proceedings against the club owners for alleged negligence and violations of mandatory safety norms following a fire at the Arpora nightclub.

The Luthra brothers, despite knowing that the restaurant lacks emergency exit doors on the ground or deck floors for evacuation in an emergency, organised the fire show, police said.

The Goa Police had filed a criminal case dated 7 December at the Police Station Arpora Anjuna, North Goa, under sections 105, 125, 125(a), 125(b), and 287, read with 3(5) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023.

Earlier in January, the Goa government had dismissed Arpora Village Panchayat Sarpanch, Roshan Redkar, and Panchayat Secretary of Arpora-Nagoa Village Panchayat, Raghuvir Bagkar, from service, finding “persistent negligence” in the 'Birch by Romeo Lane' fire case.

Directorate of Panchayats, based on the Magisterial Inquiry Committee Report on the nightclub mishap, noted that the Sarpanch, “presided over meetings where the irregularities of the subject premises were either ignored or tacitly approved”.

The report said that the Birch establishment was initially operated in a temporary shed and was converted into a nightclub "without any conversion sanad or approved building plans."