Panaji, 19 Dec

Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar, the original owner of the land on which the fire-hit nightclub in North Goa stood, has alleged that Surinder Kumar Khosla, one of the accused in the case, was allowed to flee to the UK due to protection from “big guys”.

In an interview with PTI, Amonkar claimed that Goa Police failed to prevent Khosla, a British national, from leaving the country after the December 6 fire at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora village, which claimed 25 lives.

Goa Police have arrested eight people so far, including club owners Saurabh Luthra, Gaurav Luthra and Ajay Gupta, and have named Khosla as an accused in the same First Information Report. A senior police official said Khosla was still absconding.

“The demolition order by the village panchayat against the club was issued in Khosla’s name. All complaints against the nightclub named him. He is the prime accused,” Amonkar alleged.

Despite this, Khosla managed to leave the country as “some big guys are protecting him”, he said, adding that the Arpora-Nagoa panchayat granted permission for the nightclub despite being informed in writing that the land did not belong to those who had sought approval.

Amonkar has been engaged in a long-running legal dispute with Khosla over ownership of the land. He recently filed a civil suit against Khosla before the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court, which was later converted into a Public Interest Litigation seeking to fix accountability for the fire tragedy.

Recalling his association with Khosla, Amonkar said he had rented out 24 of the 107 apartments built on the land adjacent to the club to him in 2004.

He claimed that six months after entering into an agreement to sell the land, he withdrew his consent as no payment was received. However, Khosla allegedly did not return possession and later allowed a nightclub to be set up on the property.

According to Amonkar, Khosla was “very much in Goa” when the fire incident occurred and was even scheduled to attend a court hearing around that time.

While stating that the investigation appeared to be moving in the right direction, Amonkar expressed doubts over the delay in Khosla’s arrest.