Luthras saw quick rise from a joint to a chain

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.

- Gerard de Souza and Jignasa Sinha

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 café 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.