Goa nightclub fire: Interpol issues Blue Notice against two owners

Interpol has issued a Blue Notice against Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, the owners of the Goa nightclub where a fire killed 25 people on Saturday. The brothers are believed to have fled to Phuket, Thailand, hours after the incident. Meanwhile, the Goa Police have issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against another set of owners. Deputy Inspector General of Police Varsha Sharma said the circular has been issued against Ajay Gupta and UK national Surinder Kumar Khosla.

The Chief Minister’s Office confirmed that an Interpol Blue Corner Notice — issued to collect information about fugitives — has been put out against the Luthra brothers. “All attempts are being made to get the Luthras back to India… They were not in Goa at the time of the incident,” DIG Sharma said. 

Two days after the tragedy at Birch by Romeo Lane in Arpora, state authorities on Tuesday demolished an illegally constructed beach shack linked to the Luthras in Vagator and appointed a fire safety audit panel for tourist establishments.

The Goa Tourism Department razed the illegal ‘Romeo Lane’ beach shack on the Chief Minister’s directive and reclaimed 198 sq m of land. The wooden structure was demolished within two hours in the presence of the police.

Police have so far arrested five staff members of the nightclub: chief general manager Rajiv Modak, general manager Vivek Singh, bar manager Rajiv Singhania, gate manager Riyanshu Thakur and employee Bharat Kohli. Kohli, a resident of Delhi, was arrested in the national capital and allegedly oversaw daily operations.

DIG Sharma said former Director of Panchayat Siddhi Halarnkar and former Goa State Pollution Control Board Member Secretary Shamila Monteiro have been asked to join the investigation.

A series of violations at the nightclub has now emerged. The original landowner, Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar, said that he had fought a legal battle for 20 years against Khosla, alleging persistent illegalities on the property. He said he bought the land in 1994 and briefly entered into a sale agreement with Khosla in 2004, but cancelled it after Khosla failed to pay. Despite this, Khosla set up a nightclub on the land, which was later taken over by the Luthras, Amonkar alleged.

The Arpora-Nagoa panchayat issued a demolition notice to Khosla in 2024, but he secured a stay from the Directorate of Panchayat. Authorities have also found that Kazakh national Kristina, who was performing a belly dance when the fire erupted, did not have the business visa required to perform in India.

The state government has blamed the panchayat for allowing illegalities to continue. The Chief Minister’s Office said the local sarpanch had issued multiple NOCs to the establishment for electricity, water, repairs and trade licence. The nightclub continued to operate even after its trade licence expired in March 2024.

In response to the tragedy, the government has formed a high-level committee to draft SOPs for safety audits and licensing of nightclubs, bars, restaurants and tourist establishments.
(With PTI inputs)