Goa nightclub fire: Luthra brothers granted bail, set to walk out of jail
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Panaji (PTI): A Goa court on Wednesday granted bail to Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra, owners of fire-ravaged nightclub Birch by Romeo Lane, in a forgery case, paving the way for their release from jail. The brothers had earlier secured bail in a case related to the devastating blaze of last December that left 25 dead.
Advocate Parag Rao, representing the Luthras, told reporters that Judicial Magistrate First Class (Mapusa) Jude Sequeira granted regular bail to the accused in the forgery case.
With this verdict, Rao said, the brothers will be released from jail.
Rao said his clients have been asked to report to the Mapusa police station for the next five days. “We are waiting for the detailed judgment in the case,” he said.
The case pertains to allegations that the Luthra brothers used forged documents, including a fake no-objection certificate (NOC), to obtain permissions and an excise licence for operating their nightclub at Arpora village in North Goa.
According to police, the alleged forged NOC was later used to get regulatory clearances.
A sessions court at Mapusa on April 1 had granted bail to the two brothers in a case related to the deadly fire at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub last December that killed 25 persons.
Hours after the fire broke out at the club on December 6, 2025, the brothers had fled to Thailand, from where they were deported to India on December 17 and arrested by the Anjuna police from the coastal state.
The forgery case was registered separately by Mapusa police after a complaint from the health officer of the Candolim Primary Health Centre, who alleged that his signature had been forged and a fabricated entry had been made in the official register to secure the health NOC.
The tragedy had triggered a massive probe into fire safety violations, licensing procedures and alleged negligence in the operation of the club.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
