3 min readApr 1, 2026 02:30 PM IST
A local court in Goa on Wednesday granted bail to brothers Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, owners of Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub, in connection with a fire at the establishment on December 6 that killed 25 people in North Goa’s Arpora.
The Goa Police filed a chargesheet last month against 13 accused, including the Luthras, in connection with the fire. It stated that due to irresponsible acts of the accused persons, “irreparable loss… shattered 25 families, reflecting gross criminal negligence and utter disregard for human life and complete failure of the accused to adhere to statutory and safety norms”.
The Luthra brothers, who ran the club, had taken a flight from Delhi to Phuket at 5.30 am on December 7, hours after the incident, which took place just before midnight the previous day. The duo booked the tickets at 1.17 am on December 7 to leave the country, within 90 minutes of the blaze. They were later deported to India and arrested by the Goa Police.
Advocate Parag Rao, who represented the Luthras, told the media, “It is a conditional bail, with the usual conditions. We do not have a copy of the judgment. Once the judgment copy is available, we will know on what grounds it has been granted.”
The Luthra brothers and the club’s partners, manager, event organiser and other managing staff were booked under charges of culpable homicide in the first FIR, lodged on December 7. The FIR said the restaurant was operating without obtaining the requisite licences and that the accused persons, “without taking proper care and caution, without providing fire safety equipment and other safety gadgets, organised a fire show at their restaurant/club”. It also stated that they did so “in spite of having full knowledge that organising such a show may lead to serious fire accidents”.
Earlier last week, a court in Goa had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of the brothers in connection with an FIR of alleged forgery and cheating, where they are accused of forging a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Health Office and using it to obtain excise and other licences and permissions to run the nightclub. Following the court’s order, the brothers were taken into custody by Mapusa police on Monday.
In February, while rejecting the bail plea of the brothers, the court had observed that they had shown complete disregard for the lives of their employees and patrons by travelling to Phuket immediately after the fire at the nightclub. The court said that the catastrophe was not a mere accident, “but the foreseeable consequence of a patent failure to install essential fire safety measures mandated by law, coupled with a reckless disregard for the safety of patrons and staff”.
