Ten days after they fled to Thailand within hours of the blaze at their nightclub, the Luthra brothers were brought to Goa on December 17 (Express Photo)
A Goa court on Monday sent Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, owners of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub where a fire on December 6 killed 25 people, to judicial custody till January 9, 2026.
On Friday, the court extended the Luthras’ police custody after the prosecution told the court they were yet to recover certain documents necessary for the investigation. The Luthra brothers were produced in a court in Mapusa on Monday afternoon.
Advocate Parag Rao, who appeared for the Luthra brothers, told the media, “The police sought judicial custody, which apparently means they have completed their investigation so far as the police custody is concerned. The judicial custody has been granted by the court till January 9.”
He said the Luthra brothers have not filed a bail application. “They were provided medicines in police custody. The court has allowed the request to give the prescribed medicines to the police, which in turn, shall be given to the jail authorities. The court has also directed that a medical examination be conducted, and thereafter, they shall be taken in judicial custody,” Rao added.
Meanwhile, police filed an application in court to declare Surinder Kumar Khosla, owner of the property on which the “unauthorised structure” housing the nightclub had been operating, a proclaimed offender to enable them to approach Interpol to issue a Blue Corner Notice against him. Earlier last week, police had initiated the process to issue a Blue Corner Notice against Khosla, who is a UK national and an accused in the case.
Ten days after they fled to Thailand within hours of the blaze at their nightclub, the Luthra brothers were brought to Goa on December 17. The Goa Police took them into custody shortly after the duo landed at Delhi airport on December 16, following their deportation from Thailand.
According to investigators, the Luthra brothers had taken a flight from Delhi to Phuket at 5.30 am on December 7, hours after the fire at their nightclub in North Goa’s Arpora, which took place around midnight. The duo booked the tickets much earlier — at 1.17 am, around 90 minutes after the blaze. Police had booked the Luthras, their partners, manager, event organiser and other managing staff of the club on charges of culpable homicide.
Curated by Dr. Elena Rodriguez
