- Ajay Gupta, part-owner of Birch nightclub, was arrested in Delhi after a lookout notice
- Gupta was a sleeping partner with the Luthra brothers in the Goa nightclub
- He tried to evade arrest by faking a spine issue and admitting himself to a Delhi hospital
Ajay Gupta, one of the owners of 'Birch' by Romeo Lane nightclub in Goa where 25 people died in a massive fire, has been arrested - days after a lookout notice was issued against him. He will be produced in the Saket court shortly, with the Goa police seeking his transit remand. Once approved, he will be flown to Goa for further interrogation.
Who is Ajay Gupta?
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, along with the runaway Luthra brothers - Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra.
A GST document accessed by NDTV confirms Gupta's partnership with the Luthra brothers.
According to sources, the police started tracking Gupta soon after the fire, but he was hiding. By Monday, a lookout circular had been issued, and the cops started searching premises linked to him. Officials found that he was moving constantly. He was also keeping his phone use to a minimum to avoid detection.
Gupta tried to escape the arrest by faking a spine issue and admitting himself to the Institute of Brain and Spine in Delhi's Lajpat Nagar on Tuesday. His driver took him to the hospital in an Innova car with an HR (Haryana) number plate. However, his plan failed.
The Goa police arrested him from the hospital.
NDTV confronted Gupta while he was being arrested. "I was only a sleeping partner with the Luthras, nothing else," he said.
Luthra brothers on the run
The Luthra brothers flew out to Thailand's Phuket on an IndiGo flight at 5:30 am on Sunday - just a couple of hours after the tragedy. They were in Delhi when the incident took place. A Blue Corner Notice has been issued against them - which is a part of Interpol's colour-coded notices that enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide.
A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, negligence, and acts endangering safety has been filed against them.
Sources said that the Luthras have filed a petition seeking anticipatory bail in Delhi's Rohini Court to avoid arrest. The court is likely to hear the petition today, they added.
