Panaji, Mar 23 (PTI) A court in Goa on Monday granted bail to Ajay Gupta, one of the owners of the ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub, where a devastating fire killed 25 people in December last year, his lawyer said.
The district court at Mapusa in North Goa granted bail to Gupta, who was arrested from New Delhi more than three months ago.
Advocate Rohan Desai, representing the accused, told the court during arguments that there was no evidence against Gupta in the chargesheet filed by police in the case.
The voluminous chargesheet does not specify any role of Gupta in the tragedy, said Desai, adding allegations of forging documents levelled against his client were also unfounded.
Desai said they were yet to get a detailed bail order, but the Judge released Gupta on a surety of Rs 50,000 and imposed several conditions, including that he shall not leave the country without the court’s permission and surrender his passport before it.
The court also asked Gupta not to temper with evidence while on bail, said the advocate.
Twenty-five people — 20 staff members and five tourists — were killed in the major blaze at the nightclub at Arpora village in North Goa around midnight on December 6. After the tragedy, police had arrested 13 people, including the nightclub’s owners.
On February 27, police filed a 4,150-page chargesheet in connection with the fire against 13 accused, including the owners, Saurabh Luthra, Gaurav Luthra and Gupta. Statements of more than 300 witnesses were recorded by police. PTI RPS RSY
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