THE Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court order cancelling bail granted to the owners of a Goa nightclub where a fire claimed 25 lives in 2025. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu upheld the August 18 order of the High Court and dismissed multiple petitions filed by Saurabh Luthra, Gaurav Luthra and Ajay Gupta, the coowners of the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in North Goa’s Arpora area, where a massive fire on December 6 last year left 25 people dead and over 50 injured. The top court directed the trio to surrender within two weeks and asked the lower court to expedite the trial in the case by speeding up the process for framing of charges.

 

Senior advocates Abhishek MSinghvi and Siddharth Dave, appearing for Luthra brothers, submitted that the case is not a direct intentional offence and it is of the nature of alleged negligence. Dave submitted there was no act on the part of the Luthra brothers which led to the killings. He said, “Section 304, part II (of IPC) is wholly and can never be applied to this case. There is no act of mine which has caused death. Maximum, if the prosecution wants to succeed in this case, then it can be under Section 304A (causing death by negligence).” Justice Datta asked Singhvi how many people lost their lives in the restaurant. The senior counsel submitted the death toll was 25 but there are two basic errors in the impugned judgement of the High Court.