Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday ordered that the Luthra brothers' Romeo Lane beach shack in Vagator be demolished, following a deadly fire overnight on Saturday at their Arpora nightclub that killed at least 25 people.
The demolition order on the third property owned by absconding nightclub owners Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra is a part of the state government's crackdown on the two fugitives, who fled to Thailand soon after the fire destroyed their nightclub, as per a PTI report.
"This shack is illegally built on government land. It would be demolished on Tuesday. District administration has kept all the machinery ready," Goa's Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.
“The Bureau of Immigration at Mumbai was contacted and it was found that both the accused had taken 6E 1073 flight (New Delhi to Phuket) at 5:30 AM on 7th December,” the Goa Police said.
With the case gaining national attention, the Goa police has already reached out to the CBI's Interpol Division to issue a Blue Corner notice to apprehend the two, which the latter has agreed to.
Blue Corner notices are issued to collect detailed information about one or more persons of interest, their location, and activities.
Shocking revelations emerge about Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub
CM Sawant's demolition order comes after a shocking revelation from Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar—the original owner of the land that the nightclub is located on—that it was supposed to have been demolished long ago.
He became a whistleblower against the nightclub in a case spanning over two decades, the report added.
According to Amonkar, a man named Surinder Kumar Khosla built the nightclub on the land despite the landowner's withdrawal from the deal, because he claimed Khosla had not made any payment. The nightclub was then taken over by Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra.
Flagging serious irregularities in the nightclub's construction and the status of the land it was on, Amonkar and Sunil Divkar filed a case with the Arpora-Nagoa panchayat in December 2023. This led to a 2024 demolition order from Arpora's Sarpanch, Roshan Redkar, against Khosla.
However, Khosla challenged this, and managed to secure a stay order from the Directorate of Panchayat.
"The main accused is Khosla. I have been saying this for years, and I will continue to say it with the same clarity and conviction. He may flee the country," Amonkar wrote on social media.
State authorities, however, have blamed the panchayat for allowing the illegalities to continue. The CMO on Monday declared that Redkar had even signed NOCs for electricity connection, water connection, and house repairs for the nightclub, in addition to granting the owners a trade licence. This trade licence expired in 2024, but the nightclub has remained open till the December 7 fire.