Luthras saw quick rise from a joint to a chain
PANAJI/New Delhi, Dec. 9 -- Delhi-based entrepreneurs Saurabh Luthra and his brother Gaurav Luthra, once a toast of the hospitality business featuring frequently in glam magazines, now face a look out notice by the Goa Police in connection with a devastating fire that claimed 25 lives at a nightclub owned by them in North Goa.
On Monday, Goa Police said the duo fled to Phuket on an IndiGo flight at 5.30am on Sunday, roughly six hours after the massive blaze at Birch by Romeo Lane, a club owned by them in the coastal village of Arpora.
A first-generation restaurateur and entrepreneur, Luthra brothers are from Delhi's Outram Lines, Kingsway Camp. According to police, Saurabh Luthra first ventured into restaurant business in 2015 by starting a cafe under the brand name Mama's Buoi at north Delhi's Hudson Lane followed by another brand name, Dramebaaz. In 2019, he opened a club named Romeo Lane in Civil Lines, Delhi.
At present, the Romeo Lane brand spans 37 cities across the country including Delhi, Dehradun, Noida, Gurugram, Kanpur, Zirkapur, Hyderabad, Lucknow Mohali, Ludhiana, Bhopal and also has a presence in Dubai, London, with a plan to open one in New York as well. They also own resorts in Goa and other places.
Saurabh completed his BTech in software engineering from a university in Gujarat and worked as a business development manager for 10 years, police said.
As per the company websites, the restaurants and clubs are run by the brothers and other investors. Many of their ventures are listed with registered office addresses in Model Town and Hudson Lane, Kingway Camp areas in the national capital.
When HT visited the Hudson Lane address, it found the place had been converted to a women's PG accommodation. Neighbours said they know Luthras who stayed there for some time but had shifted elsewhere years ago.
At the Model Town address, HT found a locked office belonging to Luthras. A guard at the building said the office has been locked since the last two days.
HT also visited Luthras' bungalow in Outram Lines and found it locked from inside. Nobody responded at the door.
Romeo Lane club in Civil Lines is still functional while the one in Defence Colony has shut down. Neighbours said the Defence Colony outlet shut down months back. Most of the outlets have been given as franchises, said the police.
At the Civil Lines outlet, a staffer said, "We don't know what has happened. We have no contact with the bosses. Our direct boss was [Bharat] Kohli but we can't reach him. Our restaurant is following all rules."
Police arrested Kohli, an associate of Luthras, early on Monday from his residence in Sabzi Mandi locality of Delhi. Police said Kohli was "overseeing" operations of many restaurants and clubs owned by Luthras.
The exponential rise of the duo 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 (CRZ) and sound pollution norms....
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