Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today launched extensive search operations in Goa and Delhi after registering a money-laundering case against the promoters of the nightclub Birch by Romeo Lane, the venue of a devastating fire that killed 25 people and injured over 50 on December 6, 2025.
According to officials, searches are being conducted at eight to nine locations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). These include the residential and office premises of brothers Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, who owned the nightclub and are currently in judicial custody. Properties connected to individuals suspected of assisting in the alleged illegal functioning of the establishment are also being covered.
ED officials confirmed that teams are examining assets linked to the Luthra brothers and Ajay Gupta, identified as an investor associated with the promoters, to trace suspected laundering of proceeds generated from unauthorised commercial operations at the club.
Searches are underway at multiple locations across Delhi, Gurugram and Goa, including premises at Outram Lanes (Kingsway Camp) and Tatvam Villas in Gurugram, officials said.
In Goa, the agency has also searched premises linked to Roshan Redkar, the disqualified former sarpanch of Arpora-Nagoa, who surrendered before a court earlier this week and was subsequently arrested, as well as those of former panchayat secretary Raghuvir Bagkar, who remains absconding. Both are alleged to have played a role in issuing illegal trade licences and no-objection certificates (NOCs) that allowed the nightclub to operate unlawfully.
Additionally, ED teams have visited locations connected to Surinder Kumar Khosla as part of the probe into suspected laundering linked to the illegal conversion of khazan (salt pan) land on which the nightclub was constructed.
