Brothers Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, who fled India last week in the aftermath of a devastating fire at their nightclub ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ in Goa that killed 25 people, have been detained in Thailand, sources said.
A team from Goa Police is likely to travel to Thailand within the next 24 to 36 hours in anticipation of the Thai government deporting the brothers, paving the way for their swift return to India to face trial.
Flight And Not Guilty Plea
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The brothers fled India on a Saturday morning IndiGo flight to Phuket. Initial inquiries revealed that tickets were booked through aggregator MakeMyTrip at 1:17 am, even as firefighters were battling the blaze.
Although they were located quickly—photographs surfaced of Gaurav Luthra at Phuket airport—they later sought protection from arrest from a Delhi court. They contended that they could not face criminal liability, as they were not present when the fire occurred, and sought four weeks’ transit anticipatory bail, which was denied.
In the meantime, India invalidated their passports, which prevented them from lawfully exiting Thailand.
Deportation vs Extradition: The Quicker Route
The decision to pursue deportation, rather than extradition, is based on a difference in legal procedure that is expected to ensure a faster return.
The whole case of the return of the Luthra brothers to India rests on two major legal differences between deportation and extradition. Deportation refers to an immigration measure in which a host country invokes its sovereign power to remove an alien from its soil, usually if the latter has run afoul of the local laws.
In this case, since India suspended their passports, the brothers’ continuing presence in Phuket without valid travel documents was an offense under Thai immigration laws, paving the way for Thailand to rapidly remove them as ‘undocumented foreigners.’
This line of approach is generally far quicker and cuts through formal court proceedings that can often drag on for years together. Extradition, on the other hand, is a treaty measure involving a formal request and proof of ‘double criminality’—an act punishable by both Indian and Thai laws.
While the culpable homicide charge outruns the minimum jail term threshold of the 2013 India-Thailand extradition treaty, extradition involves a long-drawn process of complex legal proof, not unlike the protracted efforts in the Nirav Modi or Vijay Mallya cases.
Given that the Luthra brothers are in Phuket without valid travel documents, as their passports have been suspended, technically they have contravened Thai immigration laws and could be deported any time.
Fire Investigation Finds Serious Safety Lapses
The investigation of the nightclub fire continues to reveal a number of critical safety failures at ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’:
Flammable Materials: Highly flammable materials were used widely inside the club, according to the investigations. The club had insufficient fire exits and no fire extinguishers.
Accessibility Issues: The primary building had an entrance that was not wide enough for firefighting machinery; this forced rescuers to park 400 meters away. This greatly complicated the operations and probably contributed to the 25 deaths. Lack of Clearance: Investigators also confirmed that the club did not have a required fire safety clearance.
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