Goa Club Fire Tragedy: Absconding Ajay Gupta Arrested from Delhi After 4 Days; Lookout Circular Had Been Issued

Panaji (The Uttam Hindu): Goa Police have arrested another accused, Ajay Gupta, from New Delhi in connection with the Goa nightclub fire case. A lookout circular had already been issued against him. Earlier, when police went to his residence to search for him, he had already fled. After securing an arrest warrant from the court, the police arrested him on Tuesday.

The incident occurred on 7 December, when a fire show inside the Goa nightclub triggered a massive blaze, killing 25 people. Following the tragedy, club owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra fled the country and went to Thailand. Goa Police have written to the Regional Passport Office requesting the cancellation of their passports. A lookout circular was also issued against the other owners Ajay Gupta from Gurugram and British citizen Surinder Kumar Khosla to prevent them from leaving India.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has termed the incident a major administrative and moral lapse. He has directed the district administration and police to take immediate action against all illegal clubs, bars, and entertainment venues operating in the state.

Acting on these instructions, the Goa Tourism Department demolished the illegal beach shack ‘Romeo Lane’, operated by the Luthra brothers in Vagator. According to the police FIR, the club had no fire extinguishers, sprinklers, emergency alarms, or smoke extraction systems during the fire show. No fire audit was conducted before the club began operations.