Panaji: The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Luthra brothers, owners of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub, where a fire killed 25 people last year, to deposit interim compensation of Rs 20 lakh each for the victims’ families.
A division bench comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar was hearing a petition concerning compensation for the victims of the December 2025 fire at the nightclub in Arpora, North Goa.
Advocate Prachi Sawant, representing the victims’ families, told the court that the families had sought compensation of Rs 50 lakh each, compared with the Rs 25 lakh offered by the nightclub owners.
“I had explained to them, but their request is that something close to Rs 50 lakh could be paid,” Sawant told the court.
The bench suggested that the owners deposit Rs 20 lakh each as interim compensation, without prejudice to their contentions in the main matter.
“Deposit the amount in the court. Their fight continues in the main matter,” the judges observed, asking the parties to work out the arrangement before the next hearing.
Sawant also informed the court that the families of four tourists who died in the blaze had filed a case before a consumer court in Haryana.
She said she had not yet been able to obtain responses from all the victims’ families regarding the proposed compensation.
The court asked the amicus curiae appointed in the matter to prepare a detailed list of cases pending in connection with the incident.
The bench asked the parties to discuss the proposed interim compensation and inform it of the outcome by next Wednesday, when the matter will be taken up again.
