Goa nightclub fire tragedy: ED attaches Rs 17.5cr assets of Luthra brothers; Rs 29.8cr ‘proceeds of crime’ under scanner

PANAJI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 17.5 crore belonging to the owners of Birch by Romeo Lane, the Arpora nightclub where 25 people died in a fire on Dec 6. ED’s money laundering investigation revealed the nightclub had been running illegally for years on a foundation of forged documents, expired licences, and fabricated regulatory clearances.

ED’s Panaji zonal office invoked the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, to attach the assets of the nightclub’s operating entity, Being GS Hospitality Goa Arpora LLP, and its operator Saurabh Luthra. The agency has identified the club’s entire revenue of approximately Rs 29.8 crore earned between FY2023-24 and Dec 6, as “proceeds of crime" under Section 2(1)(u) of the PMLA, meaning investigators are now hunting for the remaining assets to account for the full amount.

The investigation laid bare systematic and deliberate fraud.

“Investigation has brought to light that the partners, in active connivance with each other, knowingly continued the commercial operations of the establishment despite the absence and expiry of mandatory licences. Notably, the trade licence had expired and was not renewed. The investigation further revealed that the establishment generated total revenue amounting to approximately Rs 29.8 crore during the period from FY 2023-24 to FY 2025-26 till Dec 6 by way of illegal operation, which has been identified as proceeds of crime,” ED said in a statement.

According to ED, the club’s partners submitted forged fire NOCs, fabricated health NOCs and a forged police clearance certificate to regulatory authorities to obtain licences and project the establishment as legally compliant. The trade licence, obtained on the basis of these fake documents, lapsed on March 31, 2024, and was never renewed, ED said. The club continued operating for over a year after that expiry, in what the ED describes as “blatant violation of statutory requirements”.

On Jan 23, ED search operations at multiple premises linked to the entity yielded incriminating documents, digital devices, and the freezing of bank accounts totalling approximately Rs 59 lakh.

The ED probe was triggered by two FIRs registered by Goa police at Anjuna and Mapusa police stations against Luthra and others under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, covering both the fire tragedy and the large-scale forgery of statutory documents.

The Dec 6 fire remains one of the deadliest disasters in Goa’s recent history. Investigators are now closing in on Luthra’s remaining assets and those of his associates.

Further investigation is ongoing, said ED officials.