Four days after the fire at a nightclub in Goa killed 25 people, purported owners Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra moved Rohini Court in Delhi seeking transit anticipatory bail.
According to the Goa Police, they had taken a flight to Thailand hours after the fire and a Blue Corner Notice had been issued by Interpol against them.
Appearing for the applicants on Wednesday, Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra and Advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir argued before Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Vandana that no vicarious liability could be assigned to the Luthras as they were licensees and not owners of the nightclub. They also argued that the duo was not present when the fire took place late Saturday night.
“We’re the licencees, not owners. My prayer is anticipatory bail for… four weeks. The applicant undertakes not to tamper with evidence. I just want to come back and take my legal remedies,” said Senior Advocate Luthra.
“The owner is someone else. I can’t even do repairs without the owner’s permission… This witch-hunting issue is something I’m concerned about. There is a medical history with Saurabh. He [has] epilepsy, hypertension etc. I’m only seeking interim protection to come back to this country and exercise my legal remedies,” he said.
The fire at Birch by Romeo Lane in North Goa’s Arpora village started late on Saturday night and left 4 tourists and 21 club staff dead. The Goa Tourism Department on Tuesday demolished a portion of Romeo Lane Goa (Vagator), a beach shack also run by the Luthra brothers.
Police had said the brothers took a flight to Phuket at 5.30 am on December 7, just hours after the fire at Birch. Before the court, however, their counsel said they had gone to Thailand for business and didn’t “flee”.
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“Today I’m in a peculiar situation. They want to arrest me at the airport. I’m not asking for regular bail. That’s a matter for Goa’s court to decide… today, we’re just asking for interim anticipatory bail,” said Senior Advocate Luthra.
“Sitting in Delhi, can I be attributed intention? Could I have known this would happen?” he added.
“My submission is that by any stretch of the imagination, if anything has happened, attribution or liability can’t be given to them even vicariously,” said Advocate Mir.
“It is the admitted case that they’re not even present there. They had operational managers. These have already been taken into custody… my other restaurants have been closed or bulldozed,” he added.
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“We will join the investigation 100%. We’ve nothing more to give than what is documented on records… Your investigation has to be localised. Would by any stretch of imagination, the concept of vicarious liability come into place?” he said.
Advocate Mir also told the Court that Goa’s authorities had started bulldozing other properties belonging to the Luthra brothers. “If an unfortunate incident like this happens, would the police start bulldozing? Are they seeking revenge against their own citizens?” he said.
ASJ Vandana, on the other hand, questioned the maintainability of the anticipatory bail plea. “How is this application maintainable when the applicant is not in Delhi? For transit anticipatory bail, the applicant should be in the jurisdiction of this court,” she said.
Mir responded, “A person apprehending arrest outside the country can also approach courts. An apprehension can arise even when he’s residing outside the country. The statute allows a person to file an application for pre-arrest bail. The point is I’ve approached this court because I’m residing in the jurisdiction of this court. I’ve only gone out (to Thailand) for a couple of days.”
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Advocate Abhinav Mukherjee, who represented the State in this case, opposed any interim protection for the applicants. “NBWs [non-bailable warrants] have been issued in Goa. They fled after the incident. When the police went to their residence on 8th, their family said we don’t know where they are. I’m opposing any kind of interim protection,” he said.
Mir, pressing for protection, said, “No prejudice will be caused. Demolishing my properties is not in accordance with law. They’ve gone berserk. I’m a law-abiding citizen.”
Asking the State to file a reply on the bail pleas, ASJ Vandana kept the matter for Thursday at noon.
According to police, arrest warrants were issued against Gaurav (44), Saurabh (40) and a third owner, Ajay Gupta.
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Look Out Circulars (LOCs) were also issued for the Luthra brothers, Gupta and a fourth person, Surinder Kumar Khosla, owner of the property where Birch by Romeo Lane had been operating.
Gupta has been detained and is being produced before Saket Court, with the police seeking transit remand. Police later got 36 hours transit remand of Gupta.
A total of six arrests have been made so far.
