Staff’s deliberate omission contributed to magnitude of loss of life: Anjuna cops

Panaji: Anjuna police, in its submissions opposing bail for employees of Birch by Romeo Lane, where 25 people died in the fire on Dec 6, said that the nightclub had no fire safety, no emergency evacuation plan, and no emergency exit doors on the ground floor and deck floor, and that this “deliberate omission directly contributed to the magnitude of the loss of life”.

Police said that it was the joint responsibility of owners/partners as well as managers engaged by them to run the business legally with all requisite permissions and licences from competent authorities during the operation of the business. Anjuna police submitted to the Mapusa court that their collective failure to do so amounted to gross negligence and deliberate disregard of statutory obligations, safety concerns of the tourists, guests, and staff, directly contributing to the commission of an offence involving the death of 25 innocent people.


The court on Tuesday rejected the request for interim bail of bar manager Rajveer Singhania, 32, general manager Vivek Singh, 27, and gate manager Priyanshu Thakur, 32.

Represented by advocate Vinayak Porob, the three told the court that they were neither in-charge nor the principal authorities of the establishment. They added that they functioned strictly subordinate and were bound to adhere to all directions and instructions by the operation manager, and have been falsely implicated and illegally arrested.

Their bail applications will be heard again on Thursday.

Anjuna police stated that they were responsible for overall day-to-day operations, management, safety, and crowd management of the nightclub. They allowed the fireworks display in an enclosed crowded premises without taking care and precautions and without providing fire safety equipment and other safety gadgets, making them directly liable, police said. They facilitated the event with fireworks with knowledge that it could cause a major fire hazard, clearly amounting to gross criminal negligence and reckless disregard for human life, police further stated, adding that they should have objected to such fire events.

Police pointed out that the workers knew that the western gate was kept locked and should have made proper arrangements for emergency exit, entry, and exit points separately. “If the west side door gate was kept unlocked, it would have served as an exit door for the evacuation of tourists and staff,” police said.

Police also said that the incident has shaken public confidence and drawn wide public and national attention, and granting them bail would send a wrong signal to society and undermine the seriousness of offences involving mass casualties due to commercial greed.

“During investigation, it was revealed that there was no fire alarm and other firefighting equipment despite having a huge kitchen to serve a capacity of around 150 persons. This was clear negligence on the part of management, which failed to discharge their duties, leading to the death of 20 employees,” police stated, adding that 20 employees were killed due to suffocation after being trapped inside the basement kitchen.