Brothers detained in Thailand after nightclub fire kills 25 in Goa

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MUMBAI, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Two brothers were detained in Thailand on Thursday after a nightclub fire in Goa that killed 25 people, the chief minister of the state said, describing them as co-owners of the venue.

A local court in Delhi refused the brothers interim protection from arrest earlier on Thursday.

Their lawyer said at that hearing that Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra were on a business trip in Thailand, and said they were not the nightclub’s owners, but licensees.

The fire ripped through the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora around midnight on Saturday.

“We have detained them today in Thailand. We will bring them to Goa within a short span of time,” Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told reporters in state capital Panaji on Thursday.

The lawyer, Tanvir Ahmed Mir, said he did not have immediate confirmation of their detention, but told Reuters on Thursday the brothers were facing a “vengeful government”.

He said they had been in Thailand because they were in the process of setting up a restaurant in Phuket.

India has arrested six other people in the case so far, including five employees of the establishment. The brothers’ lawyer said in Thursday’s hearing that staffers oversaw the nightclub’s daily functioning and the Luthras could not be held culpable.

Indian authorities have offered compensation to the families of the victims, among them at least four tourists and 14 club staff.

Goa, a small coastal state, is a popular tourist destination especially among foreigners, offering beaches and hilly landscapes. About 5.5 million tourists, including 271,000 from abroad, visited Goa in the first half of the year, according to government data.

(Reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Alison Williams)