PANAJI: A
CBI team of sleuths landed in Phuket, Thailand, on Saturday to complete the process to deport Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, owners of Birch by Romeo Lane at Arpora, where 25 people died in a fire last weekend.
The Indian embassy in Thailand will issue an emergency certificate—a one-way travel document—to the Luthras since their Indian passport was suspended by Union govt. Chief minister Pramod Sawant confirmed to
TOI that the investigative team is in Thailand.
The Luthras — who fled to Thailand mere hours after the fire while police and fire services were still battling the blaze and rescuing those trapped — were detained last week by Thai authorities for staying in that country illegally.
Also read | How the Luthra brothers were nabbed - a timelineThe regional passport office, New Delhi, subsequently issued a notice to the brothers, seeking an explanation from both as to why action should not be initiated to impound their passports within seven days. Once a lookout notice was issued, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) decided to impound their passports, which meant that they were staying without valid travel documents in Thailand.
Goa DGP Alok Kumar said that the duo would be in India next week. India and Thailand signed a formal extradition treaty in 2013, which came into force on June 29, 2015.
Goa police continue to record the statements of govt officials and others in connection with the case.
The Goa police investigation into the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane, Arpora, where 25 people were killed, revealed that over the past 18 months, the nightclub was operating illegally without permissions and on an expired licence.
Also read | Delhi bans firecrackers in clubs, bars, restaurants ahead of New Year; safety measures tightenedA senior police officer who is part of the investigation said that the instrument of licence was not renewed as the nightclub hadn’t obtained permissions since 2024. However, despite these glaring lapses, not a single authority took action against Birch until the fire incident on the night of December 6.
So far, Goa police have arrested Gurgaon resident Ajay Gupta, 55, a partner of brothers Saurabh and Gaurav, New Delhi natives Rajiv Modak, 49, chief general manager, and Priyanshu Thakur, 32, gate manager, along with UP natives Rajveer Singhania, 32, bar manager, Vivek Singh, 27, general manager, and Bharat Kohli from Delhi.
When the fire broke out at the nightclub at around 11.45pm on Saturday, there were more than 150 tourists attending an event. A preliminary investigation by the police and the directorate of fire services concluded that the fire broke out after electric firecrackers struck the wooden ceiling during the event.
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