New Delhi: Goa Police on Tuesday formally arrested brothers Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra at the Immigration Control of New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport after they were deported from Thailand.
A special team of the Goa Police was present at the airport to take custody of the accused, who own the Goa nightclub Birch by Romeo Lane, where 25 people were killed in a fire on December 6.
The brothers had fled to Phuket the morning after the incident. Following India’s request to suspend their passports, Thai authorities detained them at a resort in Phuket and deported them to India on Tuesday morning. Indian law enforcement agencies coordinated the process in accordance with the India–Thailand extradition treaty in force since 2015.
The accused will be produced before the Patiala House Court in New Delhi, after which the Goa Police will take them to Goa for further legal proceedings.
The Goa Police had registered a criminal case on December 7 at the Arpora-Anjuna Police Station in North Goa under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. According to the FIR, the Luthra brothers organised a fire show at the nightclub without proper permissions, safety measures, or fire safety equipment.
The blaze allegedly broke out during the show, killing 25 people, including tourists and staff, and leaving several others seriously injured. The FIR further states that the accused were aware that the premises lacked emergency exit doors on the ground and deck floors but proceeded with the event regardless.