Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra deported from Thailand in Goa fire case

Days after a devastating fireplace at an upscale nightclub in India’s Goa impart killed 25 of us, the spotlight stays on the 2 brothers who co-owned the assign of abode.

On Tuesday, Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra hang been deported to India from Thailand, where they fled hours after the incident on 7 December.

A third partner within the nightclub, Ajay Gupta, used to be detained in Delhi last week.

Until a few weeks ago, the brothers who grew up in Delhi, weren’t known beyond India’s hospitality and nightlife circuit.

These that knew them describe a existence rooted in frequent beginnings: a paralysed father who as soon as ran a flourishing commerce, a non secular mother cherished by her neighborhood, and two sons who represented a brand fresh know-how of Indian restaurateurs – ambitious, social-media savvy and desirous to scale their trace across cities.

“They were Delhi boys in the broadest sense,” a metropolis-essentially based fully musician who knows the brothers advised the BBC on the location of anonymity, regarding the traits of brashness and chance-taking on the full linked to the Indian capital’s social and commerce culture. “Well-networked and ambitious, they used the city and their connections to build visibility.”

Nonetheless hours after the lethal fireplace, the brothers boarded a airplane to Phuket and left the nation, sparking outrage and intense scrutiny. Police launched an investigation and Interpol issued notices towards them. Overnight, the budding entrepreneurs had was into global fugitives.

As soon as help, the brothers will likely be investigated on charges of culpable homicide amongst assorted allegations. They stammer any wrongdoing and say they “never intended to evade” the laws, alleging that they hang been being “erroneously portrayed” as villains in a wider tragedy.

How did they safe here?

Born staunch into a center-class family in northern Delhi, the brothers grew up far from the dizzying glamour linked to the venues they would at last devour.

To their neighbours, they hang been merely Saurabh and Gaurav – the well mannered sons of a friendly couple. “They were deeply religious, especially the mother,” a neighbour advised the Cases of India newspaper, with one more resident adding that the family’s conduct used to be “was always very good”.

Their father, largely bedridden after a paralytic attack, formed the rhythm of the condo – after his illness, the family opened a boutique clothing store within the neighbourhood to revive their incomes, while the brothers focused on their training.

Saurabh studied engineering from a college in Gujarat impart. On the club’s first price web feature, he’s described as a “gold medalist engineer turned into a promising and fastest-growing restaurateur”. In comparability, Gaurav’s personal existence is less documented, nonetheless stories counsel he also had a level in engineering.

Their entrepreneurial scamper started with a cafe in 2016 in Hudson Lane – a vivid students’ hub come the Delhi college – which mercurial was a current amongst the young crowds. Buoyed by its success, the brothers launched one more casual diner, known as Dramebaaz, within the same neighbourhood quickly after.

Nonetheless the actual breakthrough came a few years later with Romeo Lane, an upscale nightclub. The venue leaned on a recognisable elegant of balancing carefree indulgence with planned spectacle: graceful finishings, handcrafted cocktails, loud Bollywood tune, and themed occasions.

Its success impressed growth and intensely fleet, dozens of retail outlets sprang up across the nation, alongside with in smaller cities much like Noida, Meerut, Lucknow and Dehradun. They also opened a property in Dubai last year.

“These were loud, flamboyant spaces with belly dance performances and lots of Bollywood nights,” the Delhi-essentially based fully musician acknowledged.

“Compared to other places, Romeo Lane was also a lot more affordable, giving the wider masses, especially the urban youth, their first glimpse of nightlife,” he added.

Opened in 2024, Birch by Romeo Lane – the feature of the fireplace in Goa – used to be intended to be an extension of this blueprint nonetheless on a grander scale, a luxuriant tropical island that equipped an spoil out from the din of metropolis existence.

“It was a sprawling venue with vast open spaces, ponds and fresh air. That a fire broke out at such a venue is beyond belief,” a resident from Bengaluru metropolis, who visited the assign of abode last year, advised the BBC.

Because the brothers’ commerce grew, Saurabh took on a extra public-facing feature, driving blueprint because the chairman.

His Instagram chronicle, which is easy public, reads indulge in a fastidiously curated digital diary of a hospitality impresario: You glimpse photos of ribbon-slicing ceremonies at fresh openings, community snaps with chefs standing beneath freshly lit signage and the occasional photo with a celeb, charting his rise as a successful entrepreneur for his 14,000 followers.

Two years ago, he used to be listed in Financial Cases newspaper’s “40 under 40” checklist. Last month, he used to be also featured on Forbes India – the firm chronicle for Romeo Lane shared the article on Instagram, which described him as a leader focused on building a “legacy”.

His brother Gaurav, on the assorted hand, has a quieter presence online. His Instagram chronicle is sparse, strictly devoted to posts about the venues.

Experiences say he used to be extra all for the day-to-day operations, having a glance after their budget and administration. “But the brand they projected was unified: the Luthra brothers,” the musician acknowledged.

Their swiftly rise, nonetheless, used to be no longer with out controversy, severely in Goa where their venues confronted complaints about permits and safety compliances.

In 2024, police launched an investigation towards the property for allegedly taking half in loud tune, which used to be device above the permissible limits, after a few residents filed a complaint. The case, of which the BBC has viewed a reproduction, is ongoing.

Sooner than that in 2023, a resident filed a complaint with native authorities towards the venue, alleging that it used to be illegally constructed in an ecologically snug zone.

The BBC has a reproduction of the complaint, which also alleged that the venue used to be discharging untreated sewage “directly into the ecologically sensitive Baga river, which ultimately connects to the Arabian Sea, causing substantial environmental pollution”. The complaint doesn’t point to the brothers without lengthen nonetheless refers to their native commerce partner.

On the opposite hand, in November, the Goa Coastal Zone Administration Authority closed the case, concluding that the constructions housing the nightclub hang been factual and fell exterior the legally safe coastal areas.

Then earlier in Could presumably, Goa’s Tourism Division issued orders to demolish blueprint of Romeo Lane in Vagator – a 2d property owned by the brothers – for encroaching on public seaside land.

Action used to be taken most efficient this month, when a share of the structure used to be demolished below orders from the executive minister days after the lethal blaze.

Nonetheless unlike in Delhi, where they led an outwardly public existence, the brothers hang been almost about unknown in Goa, says Tahir Noronha, a local architect, who has been on the forefront of protests towards the Romeo Lane properties.

“They were like ghosts. Even during court proceedings, they would send a manager to represent them, never showing up themselves,” he acknowledged.

In court docket filings, the brothers hang argued that they hang been “licensees, not operators” of the venue and had no declare alter over the day-to-day safety laws of the club. The BBC has reached out to Romeo Lane for command.

As investigators share together the occasions that resulted in the fireplace, the narrative of the brothers continues to unfold – on TV, newspapers and cell apps.

The Luthra brothers hang change into family names, nonetheless no longer for the causes they’d hoped.