Panaji: The Bombay High Court at Goa on Tuesday cancelled the bail granted to the owners and a business partner of Birch by Romeo Lane, a nightclub at Arpora in North Goa, where a fire claimed 25 lives.
A single bench of Justice Dr Neela Gokhale passed the order on Tuesday while hearing applications challenging the bail granted to the accused by the trial court.
Saurav and Gaurav Luthra, along with their business partner Ajay Gupta, were partners in M/s Being GS Hospitality Arpora LLP, which operated the nightclub.
The three accused had been granted bail by the trial court in April this year in connection with the fire case.
The High Court has granted them two weeks to surrender before the trial court, during which they can seek bail afresh.
“The court has allowed all the five applications—one each concerning the three accused in the case of culpable homicide in connection with the fire, and two applications concerning the accused in the forgery case related to obtaining permissions for the nightclub,” advocate Somnath Karpe, appearing for the prosecution, told reporters.
He said the accused had been granted two weeks to surrender and had also been given liberty to seek bail before the trial court.
The prosecution had challenged the bail granted to the Luthra brothers and Gupta, arguing that the offences were serious in nature.
The trio were granted bail in the fire case on April 1, while the Luthra brothers were granted bail eight days later in connection with the second FIR relating to alleged forgery in obtaining permissions for the nightclub.
According to the chargesheet filed in the case, the accused have been booked under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, acts endangering human life, negligent conduct with respect to fire and combustible matter, forgery, use of forged documents as genuine and criminal conspiracy.
The chargesheet alleged that “irresponsible acts” of the accused resulted in the deaths of 25 people in the mass-casualty incident, causing “irreparable loss” to their families.
The prosecution has alleged gross criminal negligence and disregard for human life, besides failure to adhere to statutory and safety norms.
The fire at the nightclub in Arpora had resulted in one of the deadliest such incidents in Goa and triggered scrutiny of the permissions and safety compliance of the establishment.
