Goa Nightclub Birch Owners Gaurav And Saurabh Luthra Fled To Thailand Hours After Fire

Arpora: Amidst the investigation into the deadly fire incident at Goa’s Birch nightclub that killed 25 people, a shocking detail surfaced, disclosing that hours after the devastating blaze, the owners of the club, Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra, fled to Thailand. The inferno erupted at Birch by Romeo Lane in Arpora on the night of December 6‑7, killing 25 people and leaving the entire country mourning the tragedy. However, the two owners, the Luthra brothers, escaped to Phuket in the early morning of December 7 before the Goa police could reach them.

Surprisingly, the Luthra brothers took an IndiGo flight to successfully escape to Phuket, the airline, which is grappling with an ongoing week‑long crisis, having cancelled over two thousand flights in the past week and leaving thousands of passengers stranded and frustrated. According to reports, IndiGo flight 6E 1073 departed at 5.30 am, a little over five hours after the blaze had been brought under control at the nightclub. The shocking revelation has raised questions about the Goa police's handling of the situation, which apparently gave the Luthra brothers enough leeway to evade the authorities so effortlessly.

Luthra Brothers Escaped Before Issuance Of LoC 

The Goa police, who had been alerted to the tragedy shortly after midnight, arrived at the brothers’ Delhi residence on Monday only to find the house empty. A look‑out notice was issued against the suspects through the Bureau of Immigration in Mumbai, and officials confirmed that the flight had departed “immediately after the incident, indicating an intention to avoid investigation,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police (SP) Nilesh Rane, the force’s public‑relations officer.

Reportedly, by evening on Sunday, the Bureau of Immigration had issued a Look‑Out Circular (LoC) at the request of the Goa Police, but the damage was already done. The brothers had slipped through the net, and the police have since been reduced to coordinating with the Interpol division of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to secure their arrest abroad. The critics suggested that the police’s failure to act before the flight took off shows a disturbing inactivity.

“We have taken further steps to coordinate with Interpol and the CBI to apprehend both Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra at the earliest,” SP Rane added.

Meanwhile, the state government’s handling of the tragedy has also come under intense scrutiny. Despite the scale of the disaster, no senior official has been suspended, and the minister responsible for municipal administration has remained silent. The opposition leaders have accused the administration of turning a blind eye to safety violations that allowed the fire to spread unchecked. Additionally, the lack of immediate action to freeze the owners’ assets or to issue a nationwide alert has been described as a dereliction of duty.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has ordered a four‑member magisterial inquiry to ascertain the cause of the blaze and to assign responsibility. In addition, the state’s BJP‑led government moved quickly to shut down two of the Romeo Lane chain’s outlets in Goa, a beach shack in Vagator and another club in Assagao, and sealed the premises.

The police also detained four employees, including the chief general manager of the nightclub.

The incident has triggered immense outrage over the apparent ease with which the owners left the country before any formal interrogation could take place. With a look‑out notice in place and international assistance being sought, the law enforcement agencies are now awaiting the outcome of extradition proceedings under the India‑Thailand treaty, which could see the brothers returned to face charges of culpable homicide and violations of disaster‑management legislation.