Goa Fireplace Case: Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra Deported from Thailand

Days after a devastating hearth at an upscale nightclub in India’s Goa state killed 25 individuals, the highlight stays on the 2 brothers who co-owned the place.

On Tuesday, Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra have been deported to India from Thailand, the place they fled hours after the incident on 7 December.

A 3rd accomplice within the nightclub, Ajay Gupta, was detained in Delhi final week.

Till a number of weeks in the past, the brothers who grew up in Delhi, weren’t identified past India’s hospitality and nightlife circuit.

Those that knew them describe a life rooted in extraordinary beginnings: a paralysed father who as soon as ran a flourishing enterprise, a non secular mom liked by her group, and two sons who represented a brand new technology of Indian restaurateurs – bold, social-media savvy and desperate to scale their model throughout cities.

“They have been Delhi boys within the broadest sense,” a city-based musician who is aware of the brothers advised the BBC on the situation of anonymity, referring to the traits of brashness and risk-taking usually related to the Indian capital’s social and enterprise tradition. “Properly-networked and impressive, they used town and their connections to construct visibility.”

However hours after the lethal hearth, the brothers boarded a aircraft to Phuket and left the nation, sparking outrage and intense scrutiny. Police launched an investigation and Interpol issued notices towards them. In a single day, the budding entrepreneurs had become worldwide fugitives.

As soon as again, the brothers might be investigated on costs of culpable murder amongst different allegations. They deny any wrongdoing and say they “by no means supposed to evade” the regulation, alleging that they have been being “erroneously portrayed” as villains in a wider tragedy.

How did they get right here?

Born right into a middle-class household in northern Delhi, the brothers grew up removed from the dizzying glamour related to the venues they might finally personal.

To their neighbours, they have been merely Saurabh and Gaurav – the well mannered sons of a pleasant couple. “They have been deeply spiritual, particularly the mom,” a neighbour advised the Instances of India newspaper, with one other resident including that the household’s conduct was “was all the time superb”.

Their father, largely bedridden after a paralytic assault, formed the rhythm of the home – after his sickness, the household opened a boutique clothes retailer within the neighbourhood to revive their incomes, whereas the brothers targeted on their schooling.

Saurabh studied engineering from a college in Gujarat state. On the membership’s official web site, he’s described as a “gold medalist engineer become a promising and fastest-growing restaurateur”. As compared, Gaurav’s private life is much less documented, however stories recommend he additionally had a level in engineering.

Their entrepreneurial journey started with a restaurant in 2016 in Hudson Lane – a vibrant college students’ hub close to the Delhi college – which swiftly grew to become a favorite among the many younger crowds. Buoyed by its success, the brothers launched one other informal diner, known as Dramebaaz, in the identical neighbourhood shortly after.

However the actual breakthrough got here a number of years later with Romeo Lane, an upscale nightclub. The venue leaned on a recognisable aesthetic of balancing carefree indulgence with deliberate spectacle: smooth finishings, handcrafted cocktails, loud Bollywood music, and themed occasions.

Its success impressed growth and very quickly, dozens of shops sprang up throughout the nation, together with in smaller cities equivalent to Noida, Meerut, Lucknow and Dehradun. In addition they opened a property in Dubai final 12 months.

“These have been loud, flamboyant areas with stomach dance performances and many Bollywood nights,” the Delhi-based musician mentioned.

“In comparison with different locations, Romeo Lane was additionally much more inexpensive, giving the broader plenty, particularly the city youth, their first glimpse of nightlife,” he added.

Opened in 2024, Birch by Romeo Lane – the positioning of the hearth in Goa – was meant to be an extension of this method however on a grander scale, a luxuriant tropical island that provided an escape from the din of metropolis life.

“It was a sprawling venue with huge open areas, ponds and recent air. {That a} hearth broke out at such a venue is past perception,” a resident from Bengaluru metropolis, who visited the place final 12 months, advised the BBC.

Because the brothers’ enterprise grew, Saurabh took on a extra public-facing position, driving technique because the chairman.

His Instagram account, which remains to be public, reads like a rigorously curated digital diary of a hospitality impresario: You see photos of ribbon-cutting ceremonies at new openings, group snaps with cooks standing beneath freshly lit signage and the occasional photograph with a star, charting his rise as a profitable entrepreneur for his 14,000 followers.

Two years in the past, he was listed in Financial Instances newspaper’s “40 beneath 40” checklist. Final month, he was additionally featured on Forbes India – the corporate account for Romeo Lane shared the article on Instagram, which described him as a frontrunner targeted on constructing a “legacy”.

His brother Gaurav, then again, has a quieter presence on-line. His Instagram account is sparse, strictly dedicated to posts concerning the venues.

Studies say he was extra concerned within the day-to-day operations, taking care of their funds and administration. “However the model they projected was unified: the Luthra brothers,” the musician mentioned.

Their speedy rise, nevertheless, was not with out controversy, particularly in Goa the place their venues confronted complaints about permits and security compliances.

In 2024, police launched an investigation towards the property for allegedly enjoying loud music, which was method above the permissible limits, after a number of residents filed a grievance. The case, of which the BBC has seen a replica, is ongoing.

Earlier than that in 2023, a resident filed a grievance with native authorities towards the venue, alleging that it was illegally constructed in an ecologically delicate zone.

The BBC has a replica of the grievance, which additionally alleged that the venue was discharging untreated sewage “immediately into the ecologically delicate Baga river, which in the end connects to the Arabian Sea, inflicting substantial environmental air pollution”. The grievance doesn’t point out the brothers immediately however refers to their native enterprise accomplice.

Nevertheless, in November, the Goa Coastal Zone Administration Authority closed the case, concluding that the buildings housing the nightclub have been authorized and fell exterior the legally protected coastal areas.

Then earlier in Could, Goa’s Tourism Division issued orders to demolish elements of Romeo Lane in Vagator – a second property owned by the brothers – for encroaching on public seaside land.

Motion was taken solely this month, when a portion of the construction was demolished beneath orders from the chief minister days after the lethal blaze.

However not like in Delhi, the place they led an outwardly public life, the brothers have been nearly unknown in Goa, says Tahir Noronha, a neighborhood architect, who has been on the forefront of protests towards the Romeo Lane properties.

“They have been like ghosts. Even throughout courtroom proceedings, they might ship a supervisor to characterize them, by no means exhibiting up themselves,” he mentioned.

In courtroom filings, the brothers have argued that they have been “licensees, not operators” of the venue and had no direct management over the day-to-day security rules of the membership. The BBC has reached out to Romeo Lane for remark.

As investigators piece collectively the occasions that led to the hearth, the story of the brothers continues to unfold – on TV, newspapers and cell apps.

The Luthra brothers have change into family names, however not for the explanations they’d hoped.