Birch staff tried to douse fire with a glass and water bottle: Survivor

Panaji: Bhavana Joshi from Delhi, who lost 4 of her family members in the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane on Dec 6, on Tuesday demanded that the Luthra brothers should not get bail and that they should be punished in the case.

Joshi broke into tears outside the court.

She said that she never thought such a tragedy would strike her family. Joshi said that the Birch staff tried to douse the fire with a glass of water and a water bottle.




“I cannot say that the case is strong, but govt is fighting for our cause. I want Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, owners of Birch by Romeo Lane at Arpora, to go to jail rather than granted bail. If they come out, then they will do anything,” said the Delhi resident.

Joshi, who lost her husband Vinod Kumar, said that as the management did not follow the protocol at the nightclub, the minor fire incident turned into a major one.

“When the family had only one earning member and he died in such a way, imagine what kind of trauma the family must be going through. This incident left us on the road, and we are facing financial crises,” Joshi said.

Joshi, who reached the nightclub just 15 minutes before the incident, said, “We saved some money and travelled to Goa for a holiday. We did not do anything wrong, but still we had to face this.”

“Today, because of this incident, my four family members are not with us,” she said.

“The Luthra brothers committed a mistake and, without admitting their mistake, they left the country showing no sympathy to the family members of the deceased.”

Joshi said that people could not get flight tickets those days, but the Luthras secured and left for Thailand. “You all know who is involved in the case,” Joshi said.

Joshi said that she lost four members. It was difficult to identify them as the condition was very bad.

Balkishan Joshi, a family member, said that he urged the court to give justice to his family.

“Today there is no one to take care of their children. I urged the court to give us justice,” Balkishan said.