Panaji: Goa Police has got another big success in the Romeo Lane Club fire case of Goa. Police have arrested the main accused Ajay Gupta, partner of Luthra brothers. An arrest warrant was already issued against Ajay Gupta and the police was busy searching for him. According to police sources, Ajay Gupta is a resident of North Delhi and has a huge financial stake in this club. Investigation has revealed that both Ajay Gupta and his brother Rajesh Gupta are business partners of Saurabh Luthra. The Gupta Brothers had invested a lot of money in that club, which burnt down. The police is now interrogating Ajay Gupta so that the main accused who are absconding can be reached.
Luthra Brothers had returned from Dubai just 4 days before the incident.
Police investigation has also made shocking revelations about the Luthra brothers. According to sources, Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra also have connections with Dubai. He has property in Dubai and also has his own house there, where some family members live. The most important thing is that these two brothers had returned from Dubai about 4 days before the fire broke out in the club. The police is now investigating from this angle also whether there is some deeper conspiracy behind this incident. At present, the police is considering the arrest of Ajay Gupta as an important turning point in this case.
Government bulldozer runs on ‘club of death’
On Tuesday, a government bulldozer was run on the club ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ located in Vagator area. The administration has turned this illegally built structure into a pile of debris. But, the real culprits have fled the country even before the law came into their hands. Police investigation has revealed that the main accused Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra escaped to Phuket, Thailand, dodging the police in a filmy style, just hours after the incident.
The dead bodies kept falling and the owners kept planning to escape.
The revelations made in the investigation are extremely shocking. At that time there was an orgy of fire going on in the club and people were screaming to save their lives. At that very moment the club owners were trying to escape. According to police sources, they had made a plan to escape within 5 hours of the fire. He reached Mumbai from Delhi and took Indigo flight (6E 1073) at 5:30 am on 7th December and flew to Phuket.
Surprisingly, Goa Police issued a lookout notice on the evening of 7 December. But by then the bird had already pecked the field. Immigration records confirmed that he had left the country several hours before the notice was issued. Now Goa Police has sought help from Interpol through CBI to arrest him. Apart from this, the police has arrested another accused Bharat Kohli from Delhi, who has been brought to Goa on transit remand.
The club was a ‘cage of death’
The police officer said that this club was built near the backwaters of Arpora river. The path to enter it was very narrow. This was the reason that when the fire broke out, this club became a ‘cage of death’. People could not come out and died of suffocation and burning. The dead include 4 tourists and 14 staff members. 7 dead bodies have not even been identified yet.
