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The High Court of Bombay at Goa cancelled the bail granted to Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, the owners of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora, in connection with a devastating fire that killed 25 people in December.
The court has directed the owners to surrender within 15 days. Speaking to ANI, Advocate General of Goa Devidas J. Pangam said that the High Court concluded the trial court's reasoning was incorrect and that it failed to consider the documents and material on record. He added that the court has granted the trial court 15 days to re-examine and decide the matter. " The High Court has cancelled the bail and remanded the matter back to the trial court to decide this issue of bail again. High Court came to the conclusion that the reasons given by the trial court are not correct. The documents and material that were there on record were not considered by the trial court. The Court has granted 15 days' time to the trial court to decide that matter again. In the meanwhile, the High Court has granted two weeks' time to the accused to surrender. So once the trial court decides, we will know the exact picture as far as bail is concerned, but as of now, the order of bail has been set aside by the High Court," said Devidas J. Earlier, the Goa government on January 1 dismissed Arpora Village Panchayat Sarpanch, Roshan Redkar, and Panchayat Secretary of Arpora-Nagoa Village Panchayat, Raghuvir Bagkar, from service, finding "persistent negligence" in the 'Birch by Romeo Lane' fire case. Directorate of Panchayats, based on the Magisterial Inquiry Committee Report on the nightclub mishap, noted that the Sarpanch, "presided over meetings where the irregularities of the subject premises were either ignored or tacitly approved." The report said that the Birch establishment was initially operated in a temporary shed and was converted into a nightclub "without any conversion sanad or approved building plans." The Committee also mentioned that the Panchayat Secretary gave the House Number without ground verification stating, "incase the House Number allocation is legal, then I don't go for inspection," but he contradicted himself and later said, "I give house numbers by verifying the structures is existing on grounds without checking its documents, like construction license, approved plans etc." A fire tragedy occurred at the 'Birch by Romeo Lane' nightclub in which 25 people died, and several others were injured on December 6. (ANI)
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