Ishaq Hussein Khaku, a 25-year-old from Bengaluru, was excited to spend the party season in Goa with his friends. According to his father, Mohammed Hussain, the group decided to go on December 6 for ‘Bollywood night’ at Birch by Romeo Lane, a restaurant, cocktail bar, and club that had opened last year in the village of Arpora. Located near Baga, one of the most popular beaches of North Goa, it promised “coastal luxury”, “a wild crowd”, “the hottest beats in town”, and “island-style cocktails”, on their Instagram account.
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Birch put out advertisements that Kristina Sheikh, a dancer from Kazakhstan, would perform that night. When Sheikh began grooving to ‘Mehbooba, Mehbooba’ from the Hindi blockbuster film, Sholay, sparks began to fly behind her. Videos that went viral later showed her stopping and glancing above at the false ceiling made of bamboo and wood.
“I ran home, into the arms of my daughter,” Sheikh told a television channel later. “One of my teammates alerted me about the fire and I consider him my Indian god.” She was one of the estimated 90 of the 100-odd people who were part of the crowd on the first floor dance area, who escaped to safety.
Hussain said he heard from the police that Khaku and his friends ran out to safety. But Khaku realised that he had dropped his mobile phone on the dance floor and rushed back in to retrieve it. He never made it out.
The next day, Hussain arrived in Goa with relatives and identified his son’s body. “Ishaq worked as an IT engineer in a data science company,” the distraught father said.
The fire spread quickly before midnight, aided by the palm leaf decor and inflammable materials used for the ceiling, investigating officers told reporters in Arpora. Th fire claimed 25 lives — 20 of them were staff members and five were tourists. Five others, including two tourists, suffered injuries and are out of danger, Vasanth Dhabolkar, Sub Divisional Magistrate, Bardez, said.
From music to chaos
For Bhavana Joshi, from Delhi, the party quickly turned into the worst nightmare of her life. She lost her sisters — Saroj, Anita, and Kamla — and her husband, Vinod Kumar. She managed to run to safety, while the rest of them suffocated to death, she told reporters in New Delhi.
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According to Joshi, Kumar noticed the fire as soon as it broke out and alerted the staff. She said the DJ tried to extinguish the fire by throwing water from a bottle. “No one from the club management helped us out,” she said. “The bouncers only helped the dance troupe get out of the hall.”
Within minutes, the fire spread across the ceiling and consumed the decorations, she recalled. “There was so much smoke that nothing was visible. People panicked and ran out. They began falling on each other and pushing each other.”
Joshi got separated from her family in the confusion. “The club had only one entry and exit. The same passageway also led to a basement kitchen, and several people accidentally ran towards it,” she said. Joshi ran out and stood outside the club, crying for help.
“Most of the staff in the basement kitchen died,” a police officer said.
Ami Manocha, a businessman from New Delhi who has made Goa his home, said some of the victims were his acquaintances. Manocha, who was to attend the party, changed his mind. He said he has not slept much since.
Manocha has met some of the survivors. “They told me that there were no fire extinguishers and that the club staff were ill-equipped to handle the incident. They did not make a safety announcement. The ground floor and the first floor were connected only by a small staircase. There were no independent exits from either of the floors to the front gate,” he said.
According to the Goa Police’s list of victims, the rest of the 20 victims were staff members from various States — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Assam, and West Bengal. Four of them were from Nepal.
Rahul Tanti, 32, of Ranagirkhari in Assam, had joined the club as a gardener just a day before the fire, said his brother Deva Tanti. The father of three, he dreamed of a more secure future. He left his job at a tea estate that paid him just ₹200 per day. “Apart from the tea gardens, there is nothing that employs us. There are no industries, factories, or businesses. Farming is non-remunerative and unpredictable as Assam suffers devastating floods regularly,” Deva said.
Another victim from Assam was Diganta Patir, of Dhemaji district. “He was planning to return home by January to his mother,” said Vishwas Kumar, Patir’s uncle. “His younger brother lives in Delhi. Patir had worked for over a decade in Goa and Tamil Nadu and had saved enough money to open a small shop in Assam.”
Prakash Thapa, president of the Goa Nepali Society, who helped the police identify the bodies and trace their families, has been living in Goa since the 1990s. He said migration from Nepal to India is not a new phenomenon. “In the 1960s and 70s, the first generation of immigrants were security guards. Later came the housekeeping and cleaning staff. Now, it is mostly cooks and caretakers in houses and hotels,” he explained.
The Singhs from Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand are a family of chefs. Satish Singh, one of the victims, had recently started working at the Birch kitchen. He had worked as a chef in a Bengaluru hotel earlier. “But his labour contractor shifted him to Goa a year ago, promising better wages,” said Ramesh Singh, his brother, also a chef.
However, not everyone said they were attracted by higher wages to Goa. Some moved simply because it has the reputation of being “a fun place to work,” said Dhan Singh, the brother of Jitendra Singh from Tehri Gharwal district in Uttarakhand, who died in the fire.
Jitendra used to work in Gurugram as a helper in a kitchen. “He and his friends then decided to shift. He did not get much of a raise, but he liked the mood in Goa,” Dhan said.
Assessments in the aftermath
Soon after the incident, the police shifted the bodies to the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) mortuary in Panjim. Doctors said only four people had suffered severe burn injuries. The cause of death in the other cases was suffocation and inhalation of poisonous gases, they said.
“Today is a very painful day for all of us in Goa,” Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said after the tragedy. “Those found responsible will face most stringent action under the law — any negligence will be dealt with firmly.” He ordered a magisterial probe and a police investigation.
The Union government announced compensation of ₹2 lakh to the families of each of the deceased and ₹50,000 for each injured person. The State government announced compensation of ₹5 lakh and ₹50,000, respectively.
A Thai policeman with Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra (right) who fled to Thailand after the fire at their Goa nightclub.
| Photo Credit:
PTI
As per the First Information Report filed on December 7, the Goa Police have booked the owners — Saurabh Luthra and his brother Gaurav Luthra — and their partner, Ajay Gupta, among others, under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 125(a)(b) (endangering lives and personal safety) and 287 (negligent handling of fire or combustible material) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
The police have so far arrested chief general manager Rajiv Modak, general manager Vivek Singh, bar manager Rajveer Singhania, gate manager Priyanshu (Riyanshu) Thakur, and employee Bharat Kohli. A court in Goa sent Gupta to police custody for seven days. Sources said the Luthra brothers, who escaped to Phuket from Delhi, were detained in Thailand on December 11, based on a request from Indian law enforcement agencies. They said the process to deport the brothers to India has been initiated.
“Officials are also studying the financial transactions of the three partners and the land owner, Surinder Kumar Khosla. Legal action will be initiated if violations are found,” Superintendent of Police Harish Madkaikar told reporters.
Sawant told the media that a committee led by the Revenue Secretary would review the safety protocols being implemented in nightclubs and similar establishments in Goa. It will not only report violations, but also suggest a road map for avoiding such incidents in the future, he said.
The Bardez district administration has sealed the premises of Birch. Officials also demolished a temporary structure put up by Romeo Lane in Ozrant in Vagator village, which faced allegations by the district administration of encroaching on government land. The wooden extension to the main building was demolished last year too, but it was rebuilt later, local newspapers in Goa reported. A tourism department official in Panjim said that of the 16 properties of Romeo Lane in the country, six are in Goa.
Many allegations of violations
Activists allege that violations of building, safety, and environment norms is neither new, nor surprising in Goa. “In fact, we Goans have come to believe that violations are the norm,” said Sarika Vashist, a resident of Mapusa.
Vashist said most buildings, including the one in which she lives, have been built on the back of violations. “We have been complaining to every authority — from the panchayat to the Chief Minister’s Office — but in vain. Some officers told me that if they acted tough against business owners, investment in Goa would come down. It is absurd. What if deliberate non compliance leads to such tragedies,” she asked.
Vashist also said business owners target and silence activists using legal and other means. “I have faced multiple lawsuits and personal threats. But I will not back off,” she said firmly.
Glen Fernandes, a member of Calangute Collective, a volunteer group fighting for environment conservation, said that Birch had violated several rules. “The land on which it operated was a salt pan and fish farm and cannot be used for non-agriculture purposes, as per Section 3 of the Goa Agriculture Tenancy Act, 1964. Also, under Goan law [The Goa Restrictions on Transfer of Agricultural Land Act, 2023], it can neither be sold nor bought. The owners violated the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms as well,” he alleged.
Fernandes said he was assisting the original land owners — Pradeep Amonkar and Sunil Divker — who had complained against the nightclub. “In an earlier case, we approached the High Court to seal around 20 illegal clubs and other businesses,” he said.
A writ petition filed by the original owners of the land in the High Court has prayed for a court-monitored inquiry. They have asked for a detailed inspection of the premises, the sealing of operations, demolition of the building, and action against officials responsible for the grant of permits and licences. The case is scheduled to come up for hearing on December 16.
Rohit Bras De Sa, advocate for the petitioners, said the petitioners had issued a legal notice to the club and some officers on November 4, 2025. “We said that it was clearly an unauthorised commercial establishment. We said that it was allowed to function by officials who were guilty of contributory negligence and dereliction of duty. We sent it to the owners and all the concerned departments. But we did not get any response. The writ petition makes similar claims with similar prayers,” he said. He urged the government to fix personal liability on officials who allowed the alleged illegal construction and operations.
Like Fernandes, De Sa alleged that the club violated many rules. “The nightclub is close to the Baga river and the sea. This is a notified CRZ 1 (B) region. The owners have violated CRZ norms,” he said. “They also violated rules regarding salt pans. They constructed an basement built in the water body. They have violated town and country planning codes as well. They do not have occupancy certificates. We suspect that officials at all levels are involved in allowing the illegalities.”
Rajendra Kerkar, 60, an environment conservationist, lives in the village of Keri-Sattari, at the edge of the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary. He said, “Salt pans need to be conserved. For centuries, salt made in Goan pans was exported to Europe. Even today, the entire populations in villages such as Nirul are engaged in making salt.”
The blame game
Roshan Redkar, the sarpanch of the Arpora-Nagoa panchayat, claimed that the panchayat had suspected irregularities in the club, got it inspected, and ordered for a demolition. But the Directorate of Panchayats in the State government stayed the order, he said.
MLA Michael Lobo responded that the state cannot be blamed. “The panchayat made two major mistakes,” he said. “In its enthusiasm, it crossed the boundaries of its jurisdiction and issued a no objection certificate for a restaurant-cum-nightclub. Panchayats do not have the power to do that; only the State government’s Excise Department does. The panchayat should have sealed the club, rather than trying to demolish it. That is why the owners got a stay,” he said.
The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have both demanded that Sawant resign. Congress termed the State government “corrupt” and “anti-people”, while AAP said nightclubs and bars were “dens of extortion.”
Kerkar believes that there is only way out of the problems that Goa faces today. “That is eternal vigilance by the citizenry,” he said.
