PANAJI: The Mapusa (North Goa) police department of the Goa Police arrested Ajay Gupta, one of four co-owners of Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora in North Goa, for alleged forgery and licensing irregularities.
Gupta is already under arrest in the Anjuna Police Station FIR, in the case of the club fire which killed 25 people. This was a second FIR, which was registered in the matter for forgery by the Goa police, as it probes the blaze that killed 25 people there weeks earlier this month.
A case was lodged against Ajay Gupta after it became obvious that he had allegedly forged a health department No Objection Certificate (NOC) to obtain an excise licence for the club. Following his arrest by Mapusa police station officials who sought his custody from the Anjuna police, he was produced before a local court in Mapusa and remanded to five days of police custody. He will remain in the custody of the Mapusa police station for the next five days.
His co-owner or partner, British national Surinder Khosla, who fled to the UK is also wanted in similar forgery cases related to the club.
During his initial arrest in New Delhi, Gupta had claimed that he was merely a “sleeping partner” and was unaware of the lapses at the nightclub, putting the blame squarely on the owners, Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra.
However, the orginal owner of the property on which the club stood, revealed that Gupta was very much in Goa, in the club premises on the day of the fire and instead of helping out the victims and the injured, he fled to Delhi and got himself admitted in a hospital to avoid arrest.
In a parallel move, Goa Police have sought a Blue Corner Notice through Interpol against landowner Surinder Khosla, who allegedly fled to the United Kingdom a day after the tragedy. Both Kumar and Khosla were in Goa on the day of the fire.
Khosla who had initially signed a purchase agreement with the orginal Goan owner of the property, did not pay the dues and hence the agreement was cancelled. He however, continued to retain possession of the property and the original Goan owner is fighting a long-standing civil case against Khosla for failure to fulfill the terms of the sale agreement.
In spite of not owning the property legally, Khosla represented himself as the owner of the property to the Arpora-Nagoa village panchayat and both Gupta and Khosla by bribing the sarpanch and the panchayat secretary managed to obtain several NOCs and permissions, including trade or establishment license, permissions for repairs, electricity and water connections, fire and other permissions.
Khosla, an Indian-origin British national, has been named as an accused in the case. Police believe his custodial questioning is crucial to establish responsibility for structural modifications and non-compliance with fire norms at the property.
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