How Goa nightclub owners Saurabh, Gaurav Luthra managed to escape by flight to Thailand within hours after fire
Fire was reported just after midnight, and within six hours the owners of Birch by Romeo Lane, Arpora, Goa were on a flight from Delhi to Phuket
Its was barely five hours after a fire killed 25 people at their nightclub in Arpora village of Goa, that Saurabh Luthra and his brother Gaurav managed to get onto a flight to flee India.
Goa Police got the first alert about the massive fire at 12:04 am on Sunday — meaning the club was filled with Saturday night party crowd when the blaze occured. Meanwhile, the Luthra brothers, prominent Delhi-based businessmen who own the club Birch by Romeo Lane, got wind. They were on a flight from New Delhi to Phuket, Thailand, by 5:30 am.
They took IndiGo 6E 1073 on December 7, Sunday, as per Goa Police's statement. Trackers show the daily flight landed in Phuket just after 11 am on Sunday.
The airline has been facing massive cancellations due to pilot work-hour regulations and other issues since December 2. But its international flights, about 40 out of its 2,000+ flights, were not affected.
Police had reached the Luthras' residence in Delhi on Monday, only to find them gone. Later in the day, the Goa Police statement said they had already fled.
A look-out notice against the Luthra brothers, via the Bureau of Immigration (BoI), was issued on Sunday evening, by which time they were gone already. “The Bureau of Immigration at Mumbai was contacted and it was found that both the accused had taken 6E 1073 flight (New Delhi to Phuket) at 5.30 am on 7th December i.e. immediately after the incident which had taken place around midnight. It shows their intent to avoid police investigation,” deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Nilesh Rane, public relations officer (PRO) for the Goa Police, said on Monday.
On Instagram, meanwhile, Saurabh Luthra posted that day: “The management expresses profound grief and is deeply shaken by the tragic loss of lives resulting from the unfortunate incident at Birch.” He also offered assistance and support to families of victims in “every possible form.”
Coordination with Thailand to arrest Luthra brothers
The Indian agencies are now in touch with Thai authorities to geolocate Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, officials told HT on Tuesday, December 9.
The aim is to get them deported based on an arrest warrant as soon as possible, instead of going through the cumbersome extradition process, people familiar with the development said.
Considering friendly relations between Indian and Thai agencies in criminal matters – several fugitives have been brought from Bangkok in the past decade – officials feel that Luthras will be brought back soon, HT has reported.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also pursuing to publish blue notices against Luthras, which will allow Interpol member countries to locate and detain a wanted person in their jurisdiction, so that they don’t flee further from Thailand.
“An arrest warrant against Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra is being obtained from a court (in Goa)... Efforts are on to have them arrested in Phuket based on the warrant, which will be sent through the ministry of external affairs (MEA),” said an officer, who asked not to be named.
Over 200 fugitives involved in financial frauds, terrorism, drugs smuggling, cyber crimes etc have been geolocated abroad in the last few years through CBI efforts, while another 136 fugitives have been brought back through the extradition or deportation route.
Investigators are also trying to find out if Luthras or any of their family members moved any funds abroad, including to Thailand, in the last couple of days, or in the past and if they already have any investments there.
India and Thailand signed a formal extradition treaty in 2013, which came into force on June 29, 2015. Before that, the two countries cooperated in matters of extradition on the basis of a 1982 arrangement.
An extradition is a formal route, where agencies need to file a charge sheet, share it with the country where a fugitive is hiding. Deportation on the other hand is a more agency-to-agency cooperation mechanism, in which a fugitive is detained by requested state and sent back based on primary facts shared by the requesting country and an arrest warrant.
