Birch fire case: Accused to face trial on March 16

Panaji: A Mapusa JMFC court directed all 14 accused in the Birch by Romeo Lane fire case to remain present on March 16 before the principal sessions court, North Goa, at Panaji, which will undertake their trial. The accused include the Luthra brothers, Ajay Gupta, the managers of the club, as well as the ex secretary and sarpanch of the Arpora village panchayat. Out of all 14 accused, property owner Surinder Kumar Khosla is absconding.

Six of the accused, including Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra, Ajay Gupta, the club's corporate general manager Rajiv Modak, general manager Vivek Singh, and operational manager Bijay Kumar Singh, are in judicial custody. The court directed them to be produced before the principal sessions court, North Goa, at Panaji on the morning of March 16.

The court also directed all the other accused to remain present on the same day. Gate manager Priyanshu Thakur, bar manager Rajveer Singhania, then Arpora panchayat sarpanch Roshan Redkar, then panchayat secretary Raghuvir Bagkar, and Bharat Koli, who oversaw daily operations of the club, are all on bail. Other accused in the case are event company K-Dance Events director Mayur Kolwalkar and general manager Mohammed Afif Abdulsab Bateri.




Goa Police last month filed a 4,150-page chargesheet against the accused persons in connection with the inferno that killed 25 persons on December 6. The FIR was registered against the accused, partners, managers, event organisers, and other managing staff of Birch by Romeo Lane for not taking proper care and caution, not providing fire safety equipment and other safety gadgets, and organising a fire show which resulted in the serious fire.

Around 305 different witnesses were examined.