HIGH COURT WARNED GOA IN 2023; LUTHRA ENCROACHMENT CLEARED ONLY AFTER 25 DEATHS

A High Court-flagged beach encroachment by the Luthra brothers was acted on only after 25 people died in their nightclub fire.

- SHIKHA SALARIA

The Goa government may have woken up to the illegal encroachment of public beach land at properties owned by the Luthra brothers who ran the Arpora nightclub where 25 people were killed in a fire on Saturday but a year ago the Bombay High Court had already directed that the encroachment be removed, following multiple complaints.

According to documents and court orders reviewed by TDG, activists had flagged the encroachment at the Luthras' beach shack in Ozran, Vagator as early as 2023. The matter reached the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court, which ordered the demolition of 476 square metres of encroached government land.

However, activists allege that after Goan authorities demolished the concrete structure, the shack management erected a wooden platform and continued to occupy the land.

Ravi Harmalkar, who works alongside environmental activist Nilesh Phadte, told TDG that Phadte had raised the matter in 2023, prompting an inspection by the Directorate of Settlement and Land Records (DSLR) on 8 December 2023. The survey found the Luthras had encroached on 476 square metres of public beach, using it for a bar and restaurant. A notice was issued on 27 October 2023.

"We filed several complaints with the director of tourism, the Goa State Biodiversity Board and the GCZMA, but no action was taken. I was threatened by the Luthra brothers to stay away, so Phadte petitioned the High Court," Harmalkar said.

In his complaint dated 10 March 2025, Phadte stated that an unauthorised wooden platform had been built on public beach land abutting survey numbers 213/5 and 213/4 in Anjuna-Vagator without permissions from the tourism department, GCZMA or local bodies, violating the 2011 CRZ notification. The platform, he wrote, blocked access for local fishermen and tourists.