Goa Police have made the fifth arrest in the Birch by Romeo Lane fire incident, taking into custody 49-year-old Bharat Kohli of Punjabi Basti, Delhi, who handled the nightclub’s day-to-day operations on behalf of the owners. A police team stationed in Delhi continues efforts to track down the main accused, owners Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra.
Soon after the FIR was registered, Goa Police swiftly dispatched a team to Delhi to raid the accused brothers’ residences. With both absconding, officers pasted legal notices at their homes. By the evening of December 7, a Lookout Circular (LOC) was issued against the duo. Checks with the Bureau of Immigration revealed that both had boarded an early morning flight to Phuket—just hours after the fire—indicating an attempt to evade investigation.
Goa Police have now sought assistance from the Interpol Division of the CBI to facilitate their arrest abroad. Meanwhile, officials linked to issuing permits and licences to the nightclub have been summoned to examine potential compliance failures and procedural violations.
The accused Bharat Kohli was apprehended in Delhi and brought to Goa on transit remand for further interrogation. The post-mortem examinations of all deceased victims have been completed, and the bodies handed over to their families.
