Surrounded by cops, Luthra brothers duck faces, leave for Goa from Delhi | Video
The deportation process for the Luthra brothers began over the weekend, as a court in Delhi denied them anticipatory bail. They were brought to Delhi on Tuesday
Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra, the owners of Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Goa’s Arpora, who were brought back to Delhi from Thailand, have been handed over to the Goa police and are being taken back to the state.
Footage of the two brothers has emerged from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday morning, showing the police escorting them before being taken to Goa. This comes more than a week after 25 people were killed in a deadly blaze in the North Goa nightclub owned by the brothers.
In the video shared by the news agency ANI, the two can be seen with their faces covered and surrounded by police officers. Watch the video here:
The Luthra brothers had fled to Thailand’s Phuket within hours of the start of the blaze, which began just before midnight on December 6. The deportation process began over the weekend, as a court in Delhi denied them anticipatory bail.
The two brothers were brought back to Delhi on Tuesday after being deported from Thailand and produced in court, where a transit remand was sought to return them to Goa. The Court granted their two-day transit remand to the Goa Police.
Detained in Thailand for the Goa nightclub fire
The two brothers, Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra, were detained by Thai law enforcement officials at their hotel in Phuket last week, on the basis of a request from New Delhi. The Indian government approached international authorities and issued a Blue Notice via Interpol in connection with the December 6 Goa nightclub fire that killed 25.
The Indian Embassy had earlier issued two emergency certificates after their passports were impounded and later cancelled by the ministry of external affairs.
An FIR was registered against the brothers last Sunday, charging them under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 125(a) and (b) (endangering life and personal safety), and 287 (negligent conduct with fire or combustible matter) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police said a legal team representing the Luthras had travelled to Thailand and met with the brothers at an immigration detention centre where they were being held, HT reported earlier.
Six people, including five managerial staff and Ajay Gupta, have been named in the case so far. Gupta was identified as a business partner of the Luthras who ran the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub.
Additionally, a seventh person, Surinder Kumar Khosla, is also being hunted for by the police. Khosla is the British property owner who signed a 2023 lease with Being GS Hospitality Goa Arpora LLP, the firm under which the club operated. Khosla is believed to be out of the country.
