Goa police on Monday arrested from Delhi an employee of the north Goa nightclub where a fire killed 25 people early on Sunday, and scoured the capital for owners Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra after failing to find them at their home here.
Sources said the Luthra brothers were suspected to have fled to Phuket within hours of the blaze and that a lookout circular had been issued by Goa police.
The sources said the arrested man was Bharat Kohli, a Delhi resident involved in running daily operations at the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in the village of Arpora. He has been flown to Goa for interrogation.
The Luthra brothers were not at their Hudson Lane home in Delhi when the Goa police arrived looking for them, PTI reported.
Sources said the team questioned the family about the brothers’ recent movements, possible hideouts and contacts they may have reached out to.
“They (the brothers) have been booked on the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, endangering the lives and personal safety of others, and negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter,” a police officer said.
The two-year-old nightclub is accused of lacking fire-safety clearances or equipment, emergency exits, a construction licence — even permission to serve liquor.
On Sunday, the Goa police had arrested the club’s chief general manager Rajiv Modak, general manager Vivek Singh, bar manager Rajiv Singhania and gate manager Priyanshu Thakur.
Located near a popular beach, the nightspot was packed with revellers when the fire broke out, apparently from fireworks that were being burst on the dance floor. Twenty of the dead were club staff.
Saurabh and Gaurav, who run a multi-city restaurant chain, own three entertainment spots in Goa, all of which were sealed on Sunday.
Billed as Goa’s “first island club”, Birch by Romeo Lane began operations in December 2023. The demolition notice was issued after an inquiry found that it could not have been given a construction licence since it stood on a salt pan, an eco-sensitive site.
The nightclub is also alleged to have ignored the Coastal Regulation Zone norms, which ban construction in inter-tidal zones.
Sources said BJP lawmaker Sankalp Amonkar had raised these issues in the Goa Assembly and castigated the authorities for failingto act.
Gas chamber
On Sunday, a fire department report underlined several lapses by the nightclub, including the lack of a no-objection certificate.
It painted a picture of people suffocating to death in the basement, trapped in a small, dark chamber where any possible escape route was rendered invisible bythick smoke.
“The fire appears to have transitioned rapidly from the incipient stage to the fully developed stage due to the presence of highly combustible interior finishes (wooden panels, partitions, décor), high fuel load density in restaurant and bar areas, presence of flammable furnishings and plastics,” the report said.
“...The basement had inadequate ventilation and obstructed means of egress, which contributed to the entrapment of the victims.”
It added: “The fatalities are consistent with exposure to toxic smoke and oxygen-deficient conditions, which are commonly observed in enclosed-space fires, particularly in basement compartments.”
The basement configuration meant rapid smoke accumulation, high concentration of carbon monoxide, and zero-visibility conditions in the escape routes, which meant most of those who died did so within minutes of fatal smoke exposure, it added.
An Instagram statement from Saurabh on Monday expressed “profound grief” at the deaths “from the unfortunate incident at Birch”.
It pledged “solidarity with the families of the deceased as well as those injured” and promised them “every possible form of assistance, support and cooperation”.