The two brothers, Saurav and Gaurav Luthra, along with their business partner Ajay Gupta were granted bail by the trial court on April 1

Published on: Aug 19, 2026, 17:15:55 IST

Prefer HTon Google

Share via
Copy link

The trial court that granted bail to the two co-owners and their business partner of the North Goa nightclub where a massive fire killed 25 people last year “overlooked the gravity of the offence”, the Bombay High Court at Goa said in its order that cancelled the bail granted to the two owners of Birch by Romeo Lane.

In its 28-page verdict released on Wednesday, a bench of justice Neela Gokhale also underlined that the respondents had “intentionally ignored safety standards while managing the restaurant and allowed cold-pyro fireworks, fully aware of the flammable materials used in the roof.”

The two brothers, Saurav and Gaurav Luthra, along with their business partner Ajay Gupta were granted bail by the trial court on April 1 in connection with the devastating fire at the club on December 6 last year. They were released after being granted bail in a second FIR eight days later.

The three have been given two weeks to surrender.

“The material on record is sufficient to prima facie point the arrow of intent towards the Respondent and his partners. Each partner shrugged off his individual responsibility and indulged only in a blame game. The Respondent’s arguments were based on delegated authority: he had engaged individuals to run the restaurant, as he was operating as many as twenty restaurants in the country, making it impossible for him to personally oversee the Birch restaurant. After the incident, the act of taking flight to Phuket, Thailand, also displays the shrugging off of any responsibility for the incident that resulted in twenty-five deaths of innocent people. To look at the offence as ‘not that heinous’ indicates simplicity on the part of the Sessions Court,” justice Gokhale said in the order.

The high court stressed that the respondent and partners, “prima facie, deliberately ignored all safety norms while operating the restaurant”.

“House number was distorted to procure a trade license, which in turn was used to forge the health NOC, and all this for the purpose of procuring the excise license,” the high court noted.

“On account of the absence of fire extinguishers and other safety installations, 25 people died. The restaurant was operating without licences,” the court said in its order, emphasising that the owners could not have been issued licences because the structure itself was unauthorised.

“Had they procured valid licences to operate the restaurant, the Respondent and his partners would have been bound to install safety measures and adhere to regulations. This deliberate omission led to the incident, which cost 25 people their lives and left many more injured,” the order said.

“The order granting bail to the Respondent indicates an improper exercise of discretion by the Sessions Court. There is no application of mind in enlarging the Respondent on bail. Surprisingly, the Sessions Court has not even directed periodic attendance before the Investigating Officer; nor has it directed the Respondent to seek the trial Court’s permission to travel within India,” the high court added.

The prosecution had challenged the grant of bail to the Luthra brothers and Ajay Gupta, arguing that the sessions court failed to appreciate the enormity and gravity of the offence, “in which 25 innocent persons lost their lives due to gross criminal negligence, reckless conduct and deliberate violation of statutory safety norms on the part of the owners and their partners.”

The Arpora fire tragedy at Birch by Romeo Lane, an illegally operating nightclub, occurred on the intervening night of December 6 and 7, 2025, and claimed 25 lives. The brothers, who had flown to Thailand within hours of the tragedy, were deported after an Interpol notice was issued against them and their passports suspended. They were subsequently arrested on December 16. The fire killed 25 people including five tourists and 20 staffers.

See Less