Luthra brothers’ bail cancelled in Goa nightclub fire case

On Tuesday, the High Court of Bombay at Goa announced the cancellation of bail granted to Gaurav Luthra, Saurabh Luthra, and Ajay Gupta, owners and partners of Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub. The incident occurred on December 6, 2022, resulting in 25 deaths, including five tourists. The court ordered the trio to surrender within two weeks and allowed them to file a new bail application.

The state government had challenged the lower court's bail order, which was also related to forging documents to obtain licences and permissions for the nightclub. The Luthra brothers and Gupta had been granted bail earlier this year for two FIRs. The chargesheet, which detailed the fire tragedy and the owners' actions, revealed several lapses, including the use of forged documents and the locked emergency exit.

The Luthra brothers learned of the fire at around 11:45 pm, while Saurabh allegedly booked flight tickets for himself and his brother at 1:13 am. Gupta was in Goa until December 7, 2022, and visited Delhi to get admitted to a hospital. The state government argued that the Luthra brothers fled to Phuket and Gupta to Delhi after learning of the tragedy, rather than visiting the site to help the victims.