'Not fugitives': Luthra brothers claim death threats, say no crime in leaving country on night of incident

The Luthra brothers were detained in Phuket and are likely to be deported to India soon.

The Luthra brothers, owners of the nightclub 'Birch by Romeo Lane' in Goa, on Thursday told the court that they are not fugitives of law and were a thousand kilometres away when the fire broke out killing 25 people.

Appearing for the brothers Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra at the Rohini Court in Delhi, senior advocate Tanveer Ahmed Mir told the court that his clients were also humans who provide employment to thousands of people across the country.

The owners of Birch, who fled to Thailand soon after the blaze broke out, moved court seeking anticipatory bail as authorities back home scrambled to nab the fugitive brothers. At the hearing on Wednesday, the duo sought to blame the Kazakh dancer for the blaze, claiming that it was her team who lit the fireworks that led to the fire.

Today, Mir argued that the brothers were businessmen, "not people who fled the country after committing a fraud of Rs 5,000 crore", a possible reference to the fugitive economic offenders whom the government is trying to bring back to the country to face the law.

Opposing the bail, the prosecution presented photographs of the Luthra brothers before court, claiming that it was proof of them trying to set up a business in Thailand. They further pointed out that the duo could be seen smiling in the pictures.

Mir argued that the loss of lives in the fire was not a case of homicide but death by negligence, and criminal law was being stretched to include "intention" by stating that the brothers were responsible.

The lawyer further claimed that the brothers, who were detained by Thai authorities from a resort in Phuket, were receiving death threats and that people on social media were threatening to "set them on fire".

"How has their leaving the country on the night of the incident become such a big crime? Liability is being assigned as if they went there and set the fire," Mir said, claiming that their properties were being bulldozed in Goa without them being served proper notice.