Irreparable sorrow, says Goa nightclub owner as cops issue lookout notice for him

PANAJI: Saurabh Luthra, 39, the possessor of birch tree by Romeo Lane, a nighttime bludgeon cum eating place at Arpora in Goa, where a fire incident on Sunday claimed 25 lives, has put out a post on Instagram even as police have issued lookout notices against him and his brother Gaurav Luthra, 37, and dispatched teams to Delhi to trace them.“In this hour of irreparable sorrow and overwhelming distress, the management stands in unwavering solidarity with the families of the deceased as well as those injured, and conveys its heartfelt condolences with utmost sincerity,” Saurabh said in his Instagram post.Police said the Luthra brothers have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among other charges, in the first information report (FIR) lodged on Sunday,Saurabh, an computer engineer-turned-first generation restaurateur and entrepreneur, launched his first cafe at north Delhi’s Hudson Lane under the brand name Mama’s Buoi, followed quickly by Dramebaaz and Romeo Lane.He ventured into the hospitality business around 2015. Since then, it has been a rapid rise for him. Today the Romeo Lane brand spans 37 cities across the country including Delhi, Dehradun, Noida, Gurgaon, Kanpur, Zirkapur, Hyderabad, Lucknow Mohali, Ludhiana, Bhopal and has also moved abroad with a presence in Dubai, London and plans to open in New York.But the rise has not been without controversy. The Romeo Lane chain of nightclubs and restaurants in Goa have faced complaints for repeated violation of coastal regulation zones and sound pollution norms.“There are several FIRs registered by the police against the establishment, but the violations continued,” Jawish Moniz, who runs a guest house not far from the Vagator beach, said.According to Moniz, Romeo Lane is just the tip of the iceberg. Between Ozrant, Vagator, Anjuna and Chapora – four villages along the north Goa coastal belt–, there are at least half a dozen night clubs each. All have been built in violation of environmental norms. “They only have permissions for temporary huts, but using that they build huge structures. By the time the authorities act, the tourist season is over,” Moniz said.“Romeo Lane (at Vagator) was previously demolished on at least two occasions for being in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone,” Moniz said, adding that most of these clubs use the ruse that they are ‘temporary structure’ in a bid to circumvent the Coastal Regulation Zone norms.In December 2024, Romeo Lane was one among seven clubs that was issued notices by the Goa State Pollution Control Board for violating sound pollution norms. In October last year, the club was also cited by the Bombay high court at Goa for playing loud music until 5am. The club was always represented by managerial staff at these hearings.The high court in an order issued in November 2022, had directed the authorities to be especially vigilant during the tourist season.“[They] are now accustomed to putting up such massive illegal and unauthorised structures in the said property during the tourist season and thereafter delay the proceedings…Once the tourist season concludes, [they] give undertakings of demolition and there is no clear material whether such undertakings are actually complied with or not. This is an extremely sorry state of affairs,” the high court bench of justices M S Sonak and Bharat Deshpande had said in 2022.“In the State of Goa, with a vibrant coastline and river shores to which the CRZ Notification applies… We emphasise that this is the prime tourist season, during which several illegal constructions are put up in the Eco-sensitive Coastal Regulation Zone or No Development Zones (NDZ) with impunity and for commercial exploitation… the authorities delay action against such constructions…notices are issued typically towards the conclusion of the tourist season or at the onset of monsoons,” the bench said.“After that, substantial time is spent in deciding these show-cause notices. Meanwhile, throughout the tourist season, the persons who put up such illegal constructions without regard for the environment or the legal provisions occupy and commercially exploit such constructions,” the court observed.Thanks to the scrutiny by the high court that year, 275 structures were found to be illegally constructed in the village of Anjuna. Only about a dozen were ultimately demolished.On Sunday, all three premises belonging to the Romeo Lane brand in Goa were sealed by officials of the district administration.The Goa government also suspended Siddhi Halarnkar, the then director of Panchayats who granted a stay on a demolition order that was issued by the local village panchayat.Police also said that they have issued summons to government officials involved in issuing various permits and licences to the establishment to verify compliance lapses and procedural violations.