The Luthra brothers have been deported from Thailand to face criminal charges after 25 people were killed in a fire at their Goa nightclub, 'Birch by Romeo Lane', midnight on December 7.
NDTV has accessed visuals of Saurabh Luhtra and Gaurav Luthra of boarding IndiGo flight 6E1064 that is to land in Delhi at 2 pm. The brothers fled India – though they later told a Delhi court they travelled for business purposes - hours after the fire broke; according to the police they booked tickets on MakeMyTrip.com at 1.17 am, even as firefighters were struggling to put out the blaze.
Tracked down and detained by Thai police, the Indian government suspended their passports – to stop them escaping further – and worked with immigration authorities to bring them back.
What happened at 'Birch by Romeo Lane'?
The first emergency call – to firefighters – went out at 12.04 am on December 7.
Minutes before that, as the clock ticked down to midnight, the dance floor at one of Goa's most popular nightclubs was packed. Tourists and locals swayed to the beats of Sholay chartbuster 'Mehbooba...', led by Kristina Sheikh, a professional dancer from Kazakhstan.
VIDEO | Goa Club Grooves To 'Mehbooba, O Mehbooba', Flames In Background
A video from the floor – one of a few investigators will use to try and re-construct the moments that led up to the fire – showed Kristina performing on stage, backed by a group of musicians.
The video captured moments before the fire engulfed the Goa nightclub.
Electric firecrackers go off in the background and the cheers grow louder.
According to survivors, moments later flames licked the ceiling and two staff members rushed to remove a laptop from its path. But there was still no alarm or announcement; in fact, in the video someone can be heard complimenting the dancer for having 'set the stage on fire'.
RECAP | Goa Nightclub Where 25 Died Built Like Tinderbox. Crackers Lit Fuse
Fed by combustible decor – bamboo and rattan featured prominently, earlier reels from Instagram showed – the fire then spread rapidly across the ceiling blanketing the dance floor in thick noxious smoke that added to the sudden confusion that broke as the fire spreads.
There is panic when the alarm is finally rung; confused customers run down into the basement kitchen trying to escape and get trapped there with 20-odd staff.
25 people died and over a dozen were injured in the fire.
Meanwhile, by now the fire and toxic fumes have spread across the building. In fact the authorities later said most deaths were due to inhaling those fumes rather than the fire itself.
And the narrow entrance to the club – one pathway to the building in the middle of a small lake –made rescue operations more challenging.
The charred remains of 'Birch by Romeo Lane'.
Firefighters also said lanes to the club were not wide enough for their trucks, forcing them to park 400m away and complicating rescue efforts.
Meanwhile in Delhi
Nearly 2,000 km away the Luthra brothers were at a wedding.
Warned of the fire and the deaths, they reportedly had their city office book tickets to Phuket in Thailand and rushed home to collect their passports and travel documents. This was at 1.17 am.
Within hours of the fire they were airborne; their flight left at 5.30 am and they reached Phuket unscathed. But their location was given up after Gaurav Luthra was photographed at the airport.
Gaurav was spotted at the airport in Thailand's Phuket during an immigration check.
Twenty-four hours later Interpol issued a Blue Corner Notice – which formally sought Thailand's assistance in confirming the Luthras' identities and current status. And, once notified, Thai police moved swiftly, tracking the brothers to their Phuket hotel and taking them into custody.
The 'also human' bail plea
And twenty-four hours after that the Luthra brothers, appeared, via their lawyer, in a Delhi court asking for interim protection from arrest and pre-arrest bail. The requests were junked.
In his arguments the Luthras' lawyer declared the brothers too are "also human" and appeared to seek sympathy on grounds they provide employment to thousands of people.
Thai immigration officials with the Luthra brothers.
Senior advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir, appearing for the brothers, pointed out his clients were not present when the fire broke out and, therefore, could not be held criminally liable.
The brothers, he said, had multiple businesses and do not oversee day-to-day concerns.
RECAP | Luthra Brothers' Plea For Pre-Arrest Bail Rejected By Delhi Court
He argued the deaths were the result of 'negligence' – a stray flame from a pyrotechnics performance was blamed for the fire – and lacked 'intention' by the brothers.
The passports puzzle
Meanwhile, the Indian government was evaluating options to bring the Luthra brothers home – they could activate an extradition agreement with Thailand or trigger a deportation by suspending their passports, which would leave them in violation of Thai laws.
On December 11, four days after the fire, the passports were suspended.
That triggered an automatic deportation from Thailand rather than having to run through the longer and more complicated extradition formalities, which would have included proving, in a Thai court, that there is evidence to hold the brothers accountable for the fire and deaths.
But then came a legal and diplomatic roadblock; the brothers, by then in the custody of Thai immigration officials, could not be flown back because they did not have valid passports.
NDTV Explains | How Luthra Brothers' India Deportation Was Delayed
Sans passports, the brothers had to be issued an 'outpass', or an Emergency Travel Certificate by the Indian embassy in Bangkok, and that process was delayed because government offices closed over the weekend. It was granted Monday and tickets were booked for Tuesday morning.
