The Enforcement Directorate on Friday conducted raids in Goa and Delhi after it filed a money laundering case against the promoters of a Goa-based nightclub where 25 people were killed in a devastating fire in December last year, officials said.
About eight premises, including the offices and residential locations of brothers Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, apart from that of some others involved in the case are being searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
The fire broke out on December 6, 2025 at the Birch by Romeo Lane, a nightclub in Goa’s Arpora village, when it was hosting a dance party. As many as 50 people were injured in the incident.
The two brothers fled the country hours after the incident and travelled to Thailand. They were later deported to India on December 17 last year and are currently in the custody of Goa police.
The Goa government also told the legislative assembly that the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub, where 25 persons died in a fire last month, had been flagged for illegal construction by revenue officials in 2024. Twenty-five persons were killed last month in a fire at the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub, located at Arpora in North Goa.
State Revenue Minister Atanasio Monserratte, in a written reply to the House attached documents that show the club was constructed by demolishing the traditional sluice gate inside the salt pan by illegally converting the land.
The original owners of the property, Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, had filed a complaint before the Bardez taluka mamlatdar (revenue officer) on December 21, 2023. The complaint was filed against the then Maizon Lake View Resort (later named as the Birch by Romeo Lane after it was leased out to brothers Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra).
