Panaji, Dec 9: The owners of Birch by Romeo Lane, the Goa nightclub where a fire killed at least 25 people late Saturday, fled India for Thailand within hours of the incident, police said.

According to officials, brothers Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra left for Phuket on IndiGo flight 6E 1073 from Delhi at 5:30am on December 7, barely five hours after the blaze erupted at the club in Arpora. An FIR was filed against them soon after they went missing, and a lookout circular was issued later that morning.

Police teams conducted raids at their Delhi addresses, but the men were not found. Notices under relevant legal provisions were pasted at their residences. Authorities said checks with the Bureau of Immigration confirmed their departure from Mumbai prior to the lookout alert.

While on the run, Saurabh Luthra posted a message on Instagram expressing “profound grief” over the deaths and said the management stood in “solidarity with the families of the deceased and injured.”

Goa Police said they have contacted the Interpol division of the CBI to coordinate efforts to trace and apprehend the duo.

Meanwhile, new information has emerged regarding a second property linked to the brothers. Local activist Ravi Harmalkar told India Today that the Luthras also operated another club on Vagator beach, which he alleged violated fire and safety norms and was constructed on government land. He said multiple complaints were filed with the police, the Pollution Control Board, the Coastal Zone Regulatory Board, and Town and Country Planning, but no action was taken. Harmalkar also claimed he had received threats from the brothers.

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The investigation into the Arpora fire and related violations is ongoing.