PANAJI: According to a report in The Hindu, a man, Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar claiming to be the original owner of the land on which the deadly fire-ravaged ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ stood, has alleged that a portion of his property was clandestinely and illegally converted from a salt pan to a settlement zone without his knowledge, to benefit the illegal owners of the club.
Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar as reported by The Hindu, said he had signed a sale agreement with one Surinder Kumar Khosla in 2004, but it was withdrawn within six months as he did not receive the payment for the property. Kholsa set up a nightclub on the land, and it was later taken over by Delhi-based Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, owners of Birch by Romeo Lane.
Amonkar said he is fighting a legal court battle against Khosla over the title and ownership of the land.
“For 21 years, I have been fighting in courts to get back my land in Arpora, which has been wrongfully occupied,” he told PTI.
While the case is proceeding at a slow, lethargic pace, Mr. Amonkar said he has now learnt about a new development. “The government quietly changed the zoning of my land without informing me,” Amid the ongoing litigation, he said no notice was served to him concerning the zone change and the entire process was done in complete secrecy.
The status of the place where the nightclub was built has been changed to a settlement zone, he claimed. “How can a salt pan be converted into a settlement zone,” he demanded to know?
Amonkar said he discovered the “zone change” on Thursday (December 11, 2025) while preparing documents to move the High Court against the club in connection with the fire tragedy.
A senior Goa Town and Country Planning official who was queried by PTI, said that since an inquiry into this matter is underway, it would not be appropriate for them to respond to Amonkar’s allegations at this stage.
A blaze swept through the nightclub at Arpora village in North Goa around midnight on December 6, killing 25 persons, most of them staff and a few tourists.
Other persons in the know of things, have accused a powerful local politcian and a Goan hotelier of being hand-in-glove with the Luthra’s who were trying to take over all the property rights and title of the land, without paying the original Goan landowner.
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