The victims’ families have sought Rs 50 lakh each, against the Rs 25 lakh offered by the owners of Birch by Romeo Lane, where the December 2025 blaze killed 25 people
PTI Published 12.10.26, 02:41 PM
An excavator demolishes wooden structures at Romeo Lane on Anjuna beach after a fire at the adjacent Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub killed 25 people, as the state administration begins pulling down the tourism property, in Goa, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. PTI
The owners of the Goa nightclub, Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra, where 25 people died in a fire last December have been ordered by the Bombay High Court to pay an interim compensation of Rs 20 lakh each to the victims’ families.
A division bench comprising Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar issued the direction on Monday while hearing a plea seeking relief for those affected by the blaze at Birch by Romeo Lane in Arpora, North Goa. The court said the deposits would remain subject to the final arguments in the main case.
Advocate Prachi Sawant, representing the victims' families, informed the court that they had sought a compensation of Rs 50 lakh each, against the Rs 25 lakh offered by the nightclub owners.
"I had explained to them, but they requested that something close to Rs 50 lakh could be paid," Sawant told the court.
The bench suggested that the owners deposit Rs 20 lakh each as interim compensation without prejudice to their contentions in the main matter.
"Deposit the amount in the court. Their fight continues in the main matter," the judges observed, asking the parties to work out the arrangement before the next hearing.
Sawant also informed the families of four tourists, who died in the blaze, had filed a case before a consumer court in Haryana.
She said she had not yet been able to obtain responses from all the victims' families regarding the proposed compensation.
The court asked the amicus curiae appointed in the matter to prepare a detailed list of cases pending in connection with the incident.
The bench asked the parties to discuss the proposed interim compensation and inform it of the outcome by October 21, when the matter will be taken up again.
The fire broke out on December 6, 2025, at the nightclub in Arpora village in North Goa, when it was hosting a dance party. As many as 25 people were killed, and 50 were injured in the incident.
The Luthra brothers, who had fled to Thailand after the incident, were deported from that nation on December 17 and are currently lodged in Colvale Central Jail in North Goa.
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