Luthra brothers must be brought to India to face full force of law
India has a long list of absconders, who had fled the country due to their criminal activities. These fugitives, whose names are recorded in the police files, range from Dawood Ibrahim to Chhota Shakeel, Vijay Mallya to Nirav Modi, Nadeem (Shravan) to Mehul Choksi and many more. The latest escapees are the Luthra brothers – Saurabh and Gaurav – both of whom are booked in connection with the death of 25 people in the midnight inferno that burnt down their nightclub, Birch by Romeo Lane, located at Arpora. These owners of the particular club, as per the police information, slipped out of the country through Delhi airport.
It is interesting to see that just as the blaze was being put out by the firemen, the Luthra brothers were airborne heading to Phuket on IndiGo flight 6E-1073. It is also a strange occurrence that during the past week, thousands of scheduled flights of the particular airline company got either delayed or cancelled due to its inability to follow the Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms, but the 6E-1073 flight to Thailand faced no such obstacle. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind about the motive of the Luthra brothers behind deserting the country. Goa DGP Alok Kumar is right in stating that this escape is “a clear attempt to evade investigation”.
There have been many examples where people in positions of authority or those having access to immense wealth, have committed serious crimes and then left the country to evade legal action against them. This in turn has resulted in the inability of law enforcement agencies in serving justice to the victims. When the poisonous methyl isocyanate gas escaped from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, during the fateful winter night in 1984, it caused one of history’s worst industrial disasters. Warren Anderson, then head of the US-based Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) was arrested in Bhopal but quickly granted bail, after which he went back to the US. It is alleged that Indian authorities facilitated his US travel, a move widely seen as an escape from accountability.
The Goa Police have issued a blue corner notice through Interpol, aiming to track, identify and provisionally detain the Luthra brothers while extradition proceedings are being considered. Meanwhile Chief Minister Pramod Sawant from his side has ordered demolition of the Romeo Lane beach shack in Anjuna, owned by the Luthra brothers. Going a step further, the authorities immediately commenced demolition of the shack in the 198 square metres of area which comes under the tourism sector. Finally, the Home Department constituted a safety audit committee to assess licences, safety norms and recommend strict standard operating procedures (SoPs) for nightclubs, bars and event venues across Goa.
The Arpora tragedy has made the administration fire on all cylinders, most likely due to the high number of casualties in this accident. The personal and immediate intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi might also have sped up the action. The arrest of five Birch staffers and the suspension of three government officials is a clear testimony to it. The government must also make sure that the other partners not named in the FIR, are booked immediately.
The Luthra family is a high-profile family with many successful business ventures – a chain of cafes, lounges and bars, a fast-food joint, besides nightclubs. However, all this should not influence the law enforcing agencies. It is said that justice delayed is justice denied. The government should therefore leave no stone unturned to ensure swift extradition of the two fugitives.
