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Goa court remands Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra in judicial custody after cops end interrogation
Lawyer Parag Rao, who appeared for the Luthra brothers, said the police asked the court to remand the co-owners of the nightclub, Birch by Romeo Lane
PANAJI: A north Goa court on Monday sent Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, co-owners of the nightclub where a fire claimed 25 lives on December 6 night, to judicial custody until January 9.
The brothers were produced before Judicial Magistrate First Class Suman Gad on Monday afternoon at the end of their police custody.
Lawyer Parag Rao, who appeared for the Luthra brothers, said the police asked the court to remand the co-owners of the nightclub, Birch by Romeo Lane, in judicial custody.
The court also allowed their request to direct the jail authorities to provide them the medicines already prescribed by their doctor.
Rao added that the two have not yet filed a bail application.
The Goa Police arrested the two brothers on December 16, moments after they landed in Delhi after being sent back from Thailand, where they had fled on the morning of December 7. Police said the two brothers had booked their tickets online within hours of a blaze ripping through the allegedly illegally constructed premises from which the nightclub was operating.
Eight persons, including the two brothers and their business partner Ajay Gupta have been arrested in connection with the devastating fire. Five managers who managed the daily operations of the nightclub were also arrested. Two of them were released on bail last week
The FIR, filed on December 7, charges them under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 125(a) and (b) (endangering life and personal safety), and 287 (negligent conduct with fire or combustible matter) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
On Monday, the police also filed an application with the court to declare Surinder Kumar Khosla, the property owner, a proclaimed offender, to enable the state police to approach Interpol to issue a Blue Notice against him. Police said Khosla, 76, a British citizen, has not responded to notices to appear for the investigation.
Lawyer Vishnu Joshi, who is representing some of the families of the victims, said that they will oppose the anticipatory bail applications filed by the Luthra brothers in the second FIR filed against them.
“It is clear that the brothers, who have been claiming to be law-abiding citizens, are anything but that. The premises were being operated without a valid trade licence. There are fresh cases of forgery against the duo for having forged a health NOC to obtain an excise licence,” Joshi said, referring to the second FIR that accuses the Luthras and Ajay Gupta of cheating and forgery.
