A massive fire erupted at a nightclub in North Goa just before midnight on Saturday, leaving 25 people dead and six injured. The initial police probe found that the blaze was caused by a fire show with “electric firecrackers”, organised without precautions or permits at the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora, 25 km from Panaji.
The absence of emergency exit doors in the nightclub, which was operating without necessary licences and permissions according to the first information report (FIR), resulted in the space turning into a death trap. Over 100 people were in the dance area on the first floor when it caught fire, and some ran downstairs to the kitchen, where they were trapped with the kitchen staff. Most of the deaths were caused by suffocation.
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The owners, managers, and event managers have been charged with culpable homicide and causing death due to negligence, among other charges, but questions have also been raised about the failure of the State and local administration to enforce the rules, allowing the nightclub to operate illegally. Four people have been arrested so far, but the club’s owners are yet to be nabbed.
CM orders probe
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant directed the State’s chief secretary and DGP to identify and act against the government officials who allowed the club to operate even though it violated safety rules. A committee comprising the South Goa Collector, Deputy Director of Fire and Emergency Services, and Director of Forensic Laboratory will probe the incident and submit its report within a week.
Late on Sunday night, three government officials responsible for allowing the nightclub to begin operations in 2023 were suspended — Siddhi Tushar Harlankar, then Director of Panchayats; Shamila Monteiro, then Member Secretary of the Goa State Pollution Control Board; and Raghuvir Bagkar, then Secretary of Village Panchayat Arpora-Nagoa.
Of those killed, 20 were staff of the nightclub, all migrant workers, including four from Nepal. Five of the dead workers hailed from Uttarakhand, three each from Jharkhand and Assam, two each from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and one from West Bengal, according to a list released by the State government on Sunday night. Five tourists also died in the inferno, including three from one family in Delhi, along with another tourist from Delhi and another from Karnataka.
An ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh will be paid to the kin of each of the deceased, and ₹50,000 will be given to the injured from the State Disaster Management Authority Funds, the CM said, adding that arrangements will be made to take the mortal remains of the victims to their native places. President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, among others, expressed grief over the tragedy. Mr. Modi said that an ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh would be given from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to the next of kin of the deceased, and ₹50,000 for the injured.
Opposition political parties accused the government of corruption and negligence, asking how the nightclub had been allowed to operate without the necessary permits. The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party called for the CM to resign.
Pyro guns and crackers
Initial investigation by the police led to the plausible conclusion that sparks from pyro guns and crackers ignited inflammable materials like palm leaves, plastic, fibre and foam packaging on the ceiling and the decor towers on the dance area of the first floor. A police officer at the spot, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the organisers held a fire show, without taking precautions and without obtaining due permissions from competent authorities. “It seems they used pyro guns to spice up the ambience when dancers were performing Bollywood film numbers. This led to the sparks that caused the tragedy,” he said.
On Sunday morning, Goa DGP Alok Kumar had said that investigators were suspecting a gas cylinder blast, but it was later confirmed that the cylinder exploded on the ground floor kitchen only after the blaze spread from the first floor.
The club lies on the backwaters of the Baga River, and is connected to the main road by a narrow lane. It is cut off by a small water body on one side and the river on the other, making it difficult for the three fire engines to reach the front gate in the early hours of Sunday. The police had to shift the survivors away from the main road and clear the road by moving other vehicles before the first fire engine could even enter the main gate.
No fire safety precautions
The FIR said that “the owners, partners, manager, event organiser and other managing staff of Birch by Romeo Lane, Arpora… without taking proper care and caution, without providing fire safety equipment and other safety gadgets, organised a fire show at their restaurant/club which resulted in a serious fire due to which 25 innocent people succumbed to death and also caused injuries to tourists and staff, inspite of having full knowledge that organising such a show may lead to serious fire accidents…” Several violations of fire safety norms are also listed.
The FIR charges the accused with offences under BNS sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 125 (a), 125 (b), and 287 (negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter) read with section 3 (5) (common intention).
Four people have been arrested, including the chief general manager of the club. However, the owners of the nightclub, Saurabh Luthra and his brother Gaurav Luthra, who are named in the FIR, have yet to be arrested. According to Mr. Luthra’s social media channels, he is the chairman of Romeo Lane, which has restaurants in 16 cities, including Delhi, Gurugram, Lucknow, and Bhopal.
Michael Lobo, the jurisdictional MLA, told reporters in Arpora on Sunday that the other accused would be arrested after the initial investigation was completed.
No escape routes
A local police officer said that most of the deaths were due to the lack of any escape route. “The fire began on the first floor and spread to the ground floor. The ground floor lacks proper ventilation. It has one servant exit, which was surrounded by water. It is possible that it was either jammed by too many people or that they could not find a way to get to the door,” he said.
The FIR read, ”The said restaurant did not have emergency exit doors on the ground floor as well as on the first floor deck to evacuate in case of emergency. The said restaurant was found operating without obtaining permissions/licenses from the competent authorities.’’
Doctors in the Goa Medical College and Hospital told reporters on Sunday that four of the bodies were charred. The other victims died either due to asphyxiation or inhalation of toxic gases like carbon monoxide.
Arpora-Nagoa panchayat sarpanch Roshan Redkar said there was a dispute between the two owners of the club, and they had filed a complaint against each other with the panchayat. “We had inspected the premises and found that they did not have the permission to construct the club,” he said, claiming that the panchayat had issued a demolition notice, which was stayed by the officials of the Directorate of Panchayats.
However, Mr. Lobo claimed that it was the panchayat which had issued a license for a restaurant and night club at these premises in 2023 without any of the required documentation.
(With inputs from PTI)
