The Goa Police will not go to Thailand to bring back Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra, sources told NDTV on Friday. The decision was made during a meeting. Once the Luthra brothers arrive in Delhi, the Goa Police will arrest them and bring them back to Goa. 

Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar, who claims to be the original owner of the land on which the now ravaged "Birch by Romeo Lane" stood, alleged on Friday that a portion of his property was converted from a salt pan to a settlement zone without his knowledge, to benefit the club.

Amonkar said he had signed a sale agreement with a man called Surinder Kumar Khosla in 2004, but it was withdrawn within six months as he did not receive the payment. Kholsa set up a nightclub on the land, and it was later taken over by Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra.

Speaking to the news agency PTI, Amonkar said, “For 21 years, I have been fighting in courts to get back my land in Arpora, which has been wrongfully occupied.” 

Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra will be produced before the immigration authority in Thailand. That's where legal formalities for their deportation to India will be completed. The brothers will be briefly questioned and Indian authorities will be asked about logistical details for their deportation. 

Vaibhav Chandel, who alleged that she and her family were assaulted at another club in Goa owned by the Luthra brothers, said on Friday that if Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra were booked in the FIR filed by her, the December 6 fire incident at the Birch by Romeo Lane could have been avoided.

"If cognizance would have been taken of my FIR and Luthra brothers were also booked in it.. those violations could have been exposed and those 25 Lives could have been saved...," Chandel told NDTV. 

Deportation of the Luthra brothers from Thailand – to face charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder after 25 people were killed in a fire at their Goa nightclub, 'Birch by Romeo Lane', on December 6 – could be delayed by 48 to 72 hours, sources told NDTV Friday morning. The delay is because the government's move to suspend the brothers' passports has now left them without valid travel documents and no way to legally leave that country. Read more

The Luthra brothers arrived in Bangkok earlier on Friday and will stay at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention for two days. 

The Luthra brothers have been brought to Bangkok from the detention centre in Phuket. From Bangkok, CBI officials will take custody of the Luthras and bring them back to India.

A beach shack by Romeo Lane in Goa, owned by the Luthra brothers, had come under scanner last month after a case was filed against its staff for assaulting a woman and her family members.

The woman, identified as Vaibhav Chandel - a resident of Mumbai who visited the club on November 1 - alleged that the club's staff spoke rudely, behaved inappropriately, and hit them with rods. She also described the club as "suffocating", adding that it had only one entry and exit. Read more

Arpora-Nagoa Sarpanch Roshan Redkar appeared before the police in Goa after getting interim protection from a local court against arrest in connection with the nightclub fire. Redkar and then panchayat secretary Raghuvir Bagkar had moved to the District and Sessions Court in Panaji on Thursday, which granted them interim relief against arrest. Redkar appeared before the cops along with the court order that granted him interim relief. 

Sources have told NDTV that Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra are expected to arrive in India by Monday. The external affairs ministry, the Indian Embassy in Thailand, and the CBI are coordinating with the Royal Thai Police and the Thai government. 

Authorities in Thailand have started the deportation process of the Luthra brothers. They are enroute from the detention facility in Phukhet to Bangkok. From Bangkok, CBI officials will take custody of the Luthras and bring them back to India. 

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Thursday that the state government is carrying out the investigation into the nightclub fire incident in a fast-track manner. "We arrested six people after the tragic fire incident. We also suspended three people and are conducting the investigation in a fast-track manner," Chief Minister Sawant told the news agency ANI, adding, that the Luthra brothers will be brought back to Goa and will be put behind bars. 

Congress leader Nana Patole slammed the BJP over the Goa nightclub fire incident, saying that the accused brothers- Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra- are workers of the BJP. "The accused are workers of the BJP, and they are close to Amit Shah. The government (in Goa) is also of the BJP. I believe nothing is going to happen to them (accused)," Patole told the news agency PTI. 

VIDEO | Nagpur, Maharashtra: Congress leader Nana Patole (@NANA_PATOLE) on Goa nightclub fire incident says, "The accused are workers of the BJP, and they are close to Amit Shah. The government (in Goa) is also of the BJP. I believe nothing is going to happen to them (accused)."… pic.twitter.com/6epSn19jie

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 12, 2025

As a deadly blaze ripped through a Goa nightclub, resulting in the deaths of 25 people, its co-owners were attending a wedding in Delhi. Shortly after getting information about the fire at Birch By Romeo Lane, Saurav and Gaurav Luthra made hurried plans to travel to Thailand.

Read more

Speaking to reporters, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said, "We will bring them to Goa as soon as possible. Teams of the Goa Police and the CBI will go there (to Thailand). Henceforth, any violation and encroachment will not be tolerated. Two suspended women government officers are cooperating with the investigation, while one is not; action will be taken accordingly... To ensure such an accident doesn't occur again, our enforcement team, comprising senior officers, fire safety officers, and building construction officers, is visiting various clubs and restaurants. The clubs where serious violations are found will be closed."

After Luthra brothers, Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra, wanted in connection with the tragic fire at Goa's Birch Hotel, were detained in Thailand, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant reaffirmed that strict action will be taken against them, asserting that the government is committed to securing justice for the 25 people who lost their lives in the tragedy.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday tore into the ruling BJP in Goa over the nightclub fire that claimed 25 lives, blaming the tragedy on corruption and saying this is what the saffron party has given to the tourist state during its long rule.

Kejriwal, who arrived in the state on a three-day tour, alleged the fire tragedy in North Goa over the weekend was reflection of corruption in the BJP-led state administration.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said that Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra, co-owners of the ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub where fire claimed 25 lives, will be brought back to India from Thailand at the earliest. A local panchayat official will also be arrested in the fire case as he was not cooperating with the probe, Sawant said. The team of Goa Police and CBI would bring the Luthra brothers, prime accused in the case, back to India "as soon as possible", he said.

In a crackdown on illegal nightclubs in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, the authorities on Thursday sealed `Goya The Night Club' at Vagator in North Goa, claiming that it was constructed on agricultural land. The action was taken on an order issued by the revenue official of Bardez taluka. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant ordered the administration to crack down on nightclubs operating illegally or violating safety norms after a blaze at Birch by Romeo Lane club at Arpora claimed 25 lives on Saturday midnight. 

Delhi court has rejected anticipatory bail plea of Goa nightclub owners, Luthra brothers.

The Delhi court has reserved the order on the anticipatory bail pleas of Gaurav and Saurav Luthra. It is expected that the court will pronounce the order at 5:30 pm on Thursday.

The Goa police opposed the anticipatory bail pleas filed by the Luthra brothers Gaurav and Saurabh. Goa police said that Gaurav Luthra, Saurav Luthra and Ajay Gupta are signatories in the club. The club's Panchayat licence issued earlier has already been expired, and was not renewed.

The Goa Police intensified search for the Birch Club land owner Surendra Khosla by forming multiple teams to search for him.

Khosla is the owner of the property that was leased out to the operators of Birch by Romeo Lane.

Police believe he may hold legal liability related to building permissions, structural safety compliance, and leasing terms.

Forty-two companies linked to the Luthra brothers are under the scanner. These companies are linked to a single address. The documents of these companies are being scrutinised. 

Top sources have told NDTV that the initial questioning of the Luthra brothers has concluded. Thailand's immigration police asked the brothers about the purpose of their visit (to Thailand) and were also questioned about the December 6 tragedy in Goa. 

The counsel of the Luthra brothers told the Rohini court on Thursday that his clients are humans too, adding, the authorities were putting liability on them (the brothers) as if they ignited the fire. The counsel said that if the brothers had escaped, why would they approach the court with an affidavit.  

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh said on Thursday that the Luthra brothers alleging possible involvement of BJP officials and criticising authorities for failing to prevent their departure despite the alleged negligence.

"They didn't just flee from India like that; there should also be an investigation into whose hands were involved in driving them away. Without the support of the BJP government, they couldn't have fled Goa. IndiGo flights are not available to people, the country's public is distressed, and the lives of 25 people were lost due to the negligence of those individuals--yet they fled from India using IndiGo, and the government couldn't do anything? It's good that they have been caught; bring them back quickly and take strict action," Singh told the news agency ANI. 

The counsel representing Goa in the case told the Rohini Court that Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra deliberately fled India after news about the fire came out. 

The Counsel representing the state of Goa told the Rohini Court that the Luthra brothers relied upon a trade licence issued by a panchayat. The counsel said that the licence expired in 2023 and was not renewed yet. 

The counsel representing the state of Goa told the Rohini Court that it should not grant bail to Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra. The counsel said that the brothers had no business in Thailand. 

"They claimed in the application that they left (for Thailand) on December 6, but in reality, they escaped on December 7 at 1.17 am, after people died from the fire," the counsel added.

The counsel also said that as the police reached the brothers' house in Delhi, their mother didn't say anything about there whereabouts. 

The Rohini Court in Delhi started hearing the anticipatory bail plea filed by the Luthra brothers. The brothers are seeking “extraordinary” protection from the court by saying that they have valid licences and they just went to Thailand on a business trip. 

Ajay Gupta, one of the owners of 'Birch' by Romeo Lane nightclub, who was earlier arrested, has now been remanded to 7 days Police Custody for further investigation. Ajay Gupta is a Delhi-based businessman. Sources said he lives in Gurugram. He was a 'sleeping' partner (silent partner) in the nightclub where tragedy struck.

According to Interpol, a blue notice is issued to collect additional information about a person's identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation. In the case of the Luthra brothers, the investigators knew that the two men had fled to Thailand's Phuket, but needed information on their whereabouts. Read more

After being detained in Thailand, the Luthra brothers will face deportation back to India. Thailand and India signed an extradition treaty in 2013, under the terms of which Bangkok is obliged to send the Luthra brothers back if the charges they face carry a minimum jail term of a year. The main charge that the brothers face is culpable homicide not amounting to murder, which carries a minimum sentence of five years. That satisfies the main operational criteria of the 2013 treaty. Therefore, one option is to activate relevant provisions of the treaty. But typically this involves a formal request and proving 'double criminality', i.e., present evidence to a Thai court that says the accused is guilty of a crime punishable by both Indian and Thai laws. And this can take time. Read more

NDTV has accessed Interpol's Blue Corner Notice against the Luthra brothers. The notice said that Saurabh, Gaurav, and other accused in this case were running the nightclub without obtaining essential permission or licences from competent authorities. Despite knowing that the club did not have an emergency exit door on the ground floor as well as the deck floor to evacuate in case of any unforseen event, the brothers organised the fire show last Saturday night.  

Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, who ran the Goa nightclub where a fire killed 25 people, managed to fly to Thailand shortly after the blaze began. At the time, firefighters were still battling the flames, and no case had been registered against the restaurateurs. Amid criticism from the Opposition and questions about the plan to bring them to justice, the Centre used the passport route to trap the Luthras. Read more

The district administration of North Goa has issued an order prohibiting the use of fireworks, sparklers and pyrotechnics inside tourist establishments. "The order has been issued under Section 163 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, prohibiting the use, bursting, ignition or operation of fireworks, sparklers, pyrotechnic effects, flame thrower-type devices, smoke generators and similar fire/smoke-producing equipment inside tourist establishments," a senior official told the news agency PTI.

Indian officials are currently heading to Thailand to bring back the Luthra brothers. According to government sources, Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra will be deported within 24 hours. 

Government sources told NDTV that after the passports of Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra were suspended, their stay in Thailand became illegal. Hence, Indian authorities detained them and will now bring them back to India. 

Exclusive photographs have emerged of Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra detained by authorities in Thailand. The photographs show the brothers' hands tied with a zip tie. The brothers are seen holding their passports.

Top Goa government officials including Chief Minister Pramod Sawant are expected to hold a high-level meeting soon where they might discuss the strategy for arresting and bringing the Luthra brothers to Goa after their deportation. 

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has assured that the Luthra brothers -- owners of the nightclub 'Birch' by Romeo Lane pub at Arpora that caught fire and cost 25 lives -- will be caught no matter where they hide. Speaking to NDTV in an exclusive interview, Chief Minister Sawant said, "Whether it is Thailand or anywhere else, we will pick them up from there and put them behind bars." Read more

The detention of Saurav and Gaurav Luthra came hours after it was reported that their passports were suspended. This action prevents the brothers from travelling further from Phuket.

Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, who fled India following a fire at their nightclub in Goa that killed 25 people, have been detained, sources told NDTV on Thursday. The brothers will now face possible deportation back to India.