The Bombay High Court on Tuesday cancelled the bail granted to the owners of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Goa, where a fire on December 6, 2025, killed 25 people and injured around 50 others. A single bench of Justice Dr. Neela Gokhale passed the order while hearing petitions filed by the prosecution that challenged a trial court’s earlier grant of bail to the accused.
The nightclub was operated by M/s Being GS Hospitality Arpora LLP, whose partners include brothers Saurav and Gaurav Luthra and their business partner Ajay Gupta. The three had obtained bail in the fire-related case from the trial court on April 1. The High Court has given them two weeks to surrender before the trial court and allowed them to apply for bail again during that period.
The prosecution had challenged the earlier bail orders, citing the gravity of the offences and the scale of the December 6, 2025 tragedy. Advocate Somnath Karpe, appearing for the prosecution, told the court that all five applications before the bench were allowed. Three of those applications pertain to the culpable homicide case, while two relate to a separate forgery FIR alleging irregularities in obtaining permissions for the nightclub.
The Luthra brothers and Gupta had already been granted bail in the fire case on April 1, and the brothers were later granted bail in the second FIR concerning the alleged forgery linked to licensing or permissions for the establishment.
The chargesheet invokes provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder, acts endangering human life, negligent conduct involving fire and combustible substances, forgery, use of forged documents as genuine, and criminal conspiracy. Investigators have alleged that the accused’s “irresponsible acts” contributed to the deaths and caused “irreparable loss” to the victims’ families, and the prosecution has alleged gross criminal negligence and breaches of statutory safety norms.
Original Source: https://nenews.in/goa/bombay-high-court-cancels-bail-of-goa-nightclub-owners-in-fire-case-that-killed-25/61265/
Category: Goa,Bail,Bombay High Court,Nightclub,Owners
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Publish Date: 2026-08-18 20:53:00
