THE Goa police on Tuesday detained Ajay Gupta, one of the four owners of ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub, where a devastating fire claimed the lives of 25 persons. The state police had earlier issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against Gupta and another owner Surinder Kumar Khosla. “We have detained Ajay Gupta, one of the owners of the nightclub. This is the sixth person to be held in connection with the case,” a Goa police spokesperson said. “Earlier, an LOC was issued against him as a police team had failed to find him at his Delhi residence when it visited it there,” he said, adding that Gupta was later found in the national capital and was detained. He will soon be placed under arrest after the completion of formalities to bring him to Goa, the official said.

 

Two more owners of the nightclub - Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra - are on the run and a blue corner notice has been issued against them. The police have so far arrested five persons - nightclub’s chief general manager Rajiv Modak, general manager Vivek Singh, bar manager Rajiv Singhania, gate manager Riyanshu Thakur and employee Bharat Kohli. Twenty-five persons were killed in the fire at the ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub in Arpora in North Goa around midnight on Saturday.

 

Meanwhile, the Goa Tourism Department demolished ‘Romeo Lane’, a beach shack illegally constructed at Vagator by the Luthras, on the directive of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, and reclaimed the 198 sqmt of land. The structure, made of wood, was razed using machines, a senior official said, adding the demolition was carried out within two hours in the presence of police. “This shack is illegally built on government land. It will be demolished on Tuesday. District administration has kept all the machinery ready,” a senior CMO official said.