Goa Nightclub fire: Interpol Blue Notice issued against two owners, illegal shack demolished
New Delhi/Panaji (PTI): The Interpol has issued a Blue Notice against Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, the owners of a Goa nightclub, who are believed to have fled to Thailand just hours after a Saturday blaze claimed 25 lives, while the Goa Police put out a Look Out Circular against another set of owners.
The LOC was issued against Ajay Gupta and Surinder Kumar Khosla, a British citizen, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Varsha Sharma told reporters.
Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra, the two primary owners of the nightclub, are believed to have fled to Phuket in Thailand following the Saturday night tragedy at ‘Birch by Romeo Lane' nightclub in Arpora.
Two days after the horrific tragedy, state authorities on Tuesday demolished a beach shack illegally constructed by the Luthras in Vagator area, and appointed a fire safety audit panel for tourist establishments.
The Goa Chief Minister's office said that an Interpol Blue Corner Notice, meant to gather information about the accused, has been issued against the Luthras.
"A Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against another set of owners of the nightclub, Ajay Gupta and UK citizen Surinder Kumar Khosla, hours after the Luthras fled," said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Varsha Sharma.
ALSO READ: Nightclub fire: Goa govt orders demolition of Vagator beach shack of Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra
"All attempts are being made to get the Luthra brothers back to India...they were not in Goa at the time of the incident," she added.
Then Director of Panchayat Siddhi Halarnkar and then Goa State Pollution Control Board Member Secretary Shamila Monteiro have been asked to join the investigation, the DIG said.
The Goa Tourism Department demolished `Romeo Lane', a beach shack illegally constructed at Vagator by the Luthras, on the directive of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, and reclaimed the 198 sqmt of land.
The structure, made of wood, was razed using machines, a senior official said, adding the demolition was carried out within two hours in the presence of police.
Police have so far arrested five persons -- the nightclub’s chief general manager Rajiv Modak, general manager Vivek Singh, bar manager Rajiv Singhania, gate manager Riyanshu Thakur and employee Bharat Kohli.
Kohli, a resident of Delhi, was allegedly responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the nightclub and was arrested in the national capital.
With the investigation brought to the fore several violations at the nightclub, Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar, the original landowner, claimed he had fought a legal battle for 20 years against Khosla, alleging persistent illegalities on the property.
Talking to PTI, Amonkar said he had purchased two plots of land in Arpora village in 1994 and signed an agreement for sale with Surinder Kumar Khosla in 2004, but it was withdrawn within six months as the latter failed to pay the money.
Kholsa went on to set up a nightclub on the land, and it was later taken over by Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, Amonkar claimed.
The Arpora-Nagoa panchayat issued a demolition notice to Khosla in 2024. But Khosla challenged it and got a stay from the Directorate of Panchayat, he said.
"I have been fighting a battle for the last 20 years against Khosla, who has been involved in all kinds of illegalities in this property (land) I own," he said.
In the aftermath of the fire tragedy, the state government constituted a high-level committee to frame SOPs for carrying out a comprehensive safety audit and for granting various licences to nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and tourist establishments.
Various violations of rules by the nightclub are now coming to light. Authorities have found that Kazakh national Kristina, who was performing a belly-dance when the blaze erupted, didn't have the business visa to perform in India.
Arpora Sarpanch Roshan Redkar had earlier said that they had attempted to demolish the structure in the past, but could not do so as the Directorate of Panchayat had issued a stay order.
The state authorities, on the other hand, have blamed the local panchayat for allowing the illegalities to continue.
The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) on Monday stated that the sarpanch had signed NOCs for electricity connection, water connection, house repairs and granted a trade licence, among other permissions to the establishment.
The nightclub continued to run even after its trade licence expired in March 2024.
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TVK falls short within touching distance; what next to ensure majority
Chennai (PIT): With TVK falling 10 short of a majority, its leader Vijay has the option of forming a minority government in Tamil Nadu without any outside support, analysts said on Tuesday.
Senior political analyst Sumanth Raman told PTI that the TVK is likely to opt to be a minority government with outside support.
"Since it is the single largest party, TVK has the option to go for that. I don't think he (Vijay) will opt for official support from other political party's MLAs", he said.
"If he opts for minority government, the only thing is that, Vijay will have to prove the support once again after six months".
Raman also pointed out that in 2006 when DMK won only 92 seats, the then party president, the late M Karunanidhi formed a minority government with outside support.
In a completely unexpected turn of events in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the TVK has emerged victorious, putting an end to the almost six decade-long dominance of the two major Dravidian parties--DMK and AIADMK.
By clinching victory in its debut electoral contest, the party has elevated its status to that of a recognised political entity. However, the Vijay-led TVK did not secure a mandate large enough to form a government with an absolute majority on its own, requiring another 10 to cross the finish line. Experts have varied opinions.
Specifically, to attain a simple majority, a political party must win at least 118 out of the total 234 constituencies. The TVK, however, secured victory in 108 constituencies. Given that the TVK fell short of the majority mark, what might unfold next?
TVK leader Vijay has won in both constituencies he contested--Perambur in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli East. As per the election commission rule, he will have to resign from one of these seats. TVK sources said that the leader is likely to surrender the Tiruchirappalli assembly seat.
If Vijay does so, the party's total tally of seats will decrease by one. Then it will be 107. Adding to the number games, TVK appointed Speaker of the Assembly will be ineligible to cast a vote during a confidence motion and the party's effective voting strength will be reduced by yet another seat, which comes to 106.
Accordingly, the TVK requires the support of an additional 12 members to demonstrate its majority. As of now, within the DMK alliance, the Congress party has secured five seats, the two Communist parties have won two seats each (totaling four), while the DMDK has secured one seat, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has won two seats and the VCK has secured two seats.
Within the AIADMK alliance, the PMK has grabbed four seats, the BJP has won one seat, and the AMMK has secured one seat. Going by the calculations, if TVK gets the support of other parties within both alliances, it would gain an additional 21 seats.
TVK could potentially secure a total of 129 seats (108 + 21). However, the TVK does not require the support of all those parties, and the backing of just 12 members would suffice.
As Vijay is expected to visit Lok Bhavan on Wednesday (May 6) to meet the governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to stake claim to form government, the governor is expected to offer the TVK two options.
First, he may summon the TVK chief and instruct him to demonstrate his majority on the floor of the legislative assembly. Alternatively, he might ask Vijay to gather letters of support from "allied" parties and submit them to him.
If the TVK secures support exceeding 118 seats, the governor would invite the party form the government. If TVK fails to garner support from other political parties, it will be denied the opportunity to form the government.
In such a scenario, the governor has the option to invite the DMK, the party holding the second-highest number of seats to form the government.
If DMK too is unable to form a government, the state of Tamil Nadu will come under governor's rule for the subsequent six months. Following this period, fresh legislative Assembly elections will be once again held across all 234 constituencies.
Another political analyst Durai Karuna ruled out that TVK will go for a minority government.
"If he (Vijay) gives an appeal, many political parties including Congress, VCK and left parties will join TVK", he claimed. "In addition, the AIADMK, which has decided to organise MLAs meeting on Wednesday, might also announce that it would support TVK unconditionally".
He said a clear picture on Vijay's decision will emerge in a couple of days.
Tharasu Shyam, political critic, claimed that Congress was "holding talks with Vijay."
"From now on, the DMK must change its approach and this applies equally to the AIADMK," he said in an apparent reference to some reported difference of opinion between allies DMK and Congress over seat-sharing and power-sharing ahead of the April 23 polls.
Incidentally, AICC in-charge for Tamil Nadu, Girish Chodankar, on Tuesday admitted that the Congress party leadership's decision to stick with the DMK alliance went against strong grassroots sentiment favouring the TVK.
"The local leaders, the grassroots level leaders, were suggesting if Rahul Gandhi, who has a large acceptance in Tamil Nadu, joins the campaign with Vijay, it will create a big impact and we can sweep the Tamil Nadu polls, and get somewhere around 180-190 seats," Chodankar told PTI Videos.
