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New Delhi: In a significant development in the Goa nightclub blaze case, it has emerged that the Luthra brothers were attending a wedding when they received information about the sudden fire that engulfed the North Goa club. Saurav and Gaurav Luthra then began making arrangements to leave for Thailand.
According to documents recovered during the investigation, the accused booked tickets to Phuket at 1:17 am on December 7—exactly an hour after the fire broke out—and departed from India by 5:20 am.
Reports state that the brothers were detained in Thailand on Thursday, even as a Delhi court rejected their anticipatory transit bail pleas, citing their conduct and the gravity of the offences. The prosecution told the Goa court: “They left, they concealed, and now they are seeking leniency.” The court also noted that the duo fled immediately after the incident and were evading the legal process.
Goa Police have said the Luthras are accountable for causing death, manslaughter, and murder. The two allegedly organised a fire show “without taking proper care and caution and without providing fire safety equipment or other safety gadgets.” After they fled to Phuket, the CBI, acting on the request of Goa Police, issued an Interpol Blue Corner Notice. A Blue Corner Notice is an international alert used to collect information about a suspect’s identity, location, or criminal activities—unlike a Red Notice, which seeks arrest.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has stated that the Luthra brothers will be brought back to India as soon as possible. Following the tragic incident, the state government has prohibited the use of fireworks, sparklers, pyrotechnic effects, flame-thrower devices, smoke generators, and similar equipment inside tourist establishments. Fireworks are suspected to have caused the blaze at Birch by Romeo Lane.
The third accused, Ajay Gupta—a silent partner and investor in the nightclub—was present in Goa when the fire broke out on December 6 in Arpora. However, he did not visit the club and instead left for Delhi the next morning. Police did not find him at his Gurugram residence, but located him two days later admitted to a hospital in Lajpat Nagar. He has now been remanded to seven days of police custody.
At least 25 people died after a massive fire tore through the North Goa nightclub on Saturday night. Preliminary investigations suggest that most of the victims were staff members. Only three people died of burn injuries, while the majority succumbed to suffocation.
