Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, the brothers who co-owned the Birch by Romeo Lane club in Goa where a massive blaze killed 25 people due to suspected cylinder blast on Saturday, have been detained in Thailand’s Phuket. The duo had fled to the country on an IndiGo flight from Delhi barely five hours after the fire. The Thailand Police on Thursday released pictures showing the brothers in their custody. They will be deported and handed over to the Indian authorities. According to sources, a Goa Police team will be travelling to Thailand to take custody of the brothers and bring them back to India for trial. A Look-Out Circular and an Interpol Blue Notice were issued against them. A blue notice is typically issued to gather additional information about a person’s identity, whereabouts or activities in connection with criminal investigation.
Their escape on an IndiGo flight during the airline’s nationwide crisis caused by cancellations and delays raised suspicion. Police later discovered that the brothers had booked flight tickets to Thailand at 1:17 a.m. on December 7, possibly while firefighters and police were trying to extinguish the fire at their nightclub in Goa and conducting rescue operations.
The brothers had declined to return to India due to fears of arrest and had approached a Rohini court in Delhi to seek pre-arrest bail. They informed the court that they did not manage the day-to-day operations at the Arpora club and considered themselves victims of vindictive actions by the authorities. They also asserted that their trip to Thailand was not an attempt to flee but rather a planned business meeting. According to a First Information Report (FIR) by the Goa Police, the Birch by Romeo Lane lacked extinguishers, alarms, suppression equipment, and a fire audit on record, all of which are fundamental fire-safety regulations. Additionally, the police stated that the owners, manager, partners, event organizer, and senior staff carried out a fire act at the venue “without taking proper care and caution” and with “full knowledge” that it could result in a fatal accident. The FIR also noted that the nightclub did not have emergency exits on both the deck and the ground floor, which resulted in several guests being trapped in the flames.