Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar said he had signed a sale agreement in 2004 with Surinder Kumar Khosla, but the deal was withdrawn within six months after the payment did not materialise. Khosla went on to set up a nightclub on the land, which was later taken over by Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra
A devastating blaze tore through the nightclub located in the Arpora Village of North Goa around midnight on December 6, killing 25 people. Pic/PTI
A man claiming to be the original owner of the land on which the ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub stood has alleged that part of his property was converted from a salt pan to a settlement zone without his knowledge to benefit the establishment, reported news agency PTI.
Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar said he had signed a sale agreement in 2004 with Surinder Kumar Khosla, but the deal was withdrawn within six months after the payment did not materialise. Khosla went on to set up a nightclub on the land, which was later taken over by Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, the owners of Birch by Romeo Lane.
A devastating blaze tore through the nightclub located in the Arpora Village of North Goa around midnight on December 6, killing 25 people, most of them staff members and some tourists.
Amonkar said he has been fighting a legal battle against Khosla over the property.
“For 21 years, I have been fighting in courts to get back my land in Arpora, which has been wrongfully occupied,” he told PTI.
He said he recently learned about a “new development” concerning the land.
“The government quietly changed the zoning of my land without informing me,” claimed Amonkar, adding that no notice was served to him during the ongoing litigation.
According to him, the area where the nightclub was constructed has now been designated as a settlement zone.
“How can a salt pan be converted into a settlement zone?” he asked.
He said he discovered the “zone change” on Thursday while preparing documents to approach the high court in connection with the fire tragedy.
A senior official from the Goa Town and Country Planning Department said that an inquiry into the matter is underway and that it would be inappropriate to comment on Amonkar’s allegations at this stage, PTI reported.
Goa nightclub fire: Arpora-Nagoa sarpanch appears before police
Arpora-Nagoa Sarpanch Roshan Redkar appeared before Anjuna Police in Goa after securing interim protection from arrest from a local court in the case involving the deadly fire at the ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ nightclub that claimed 25 lives.
Redkar and former panchayat secretary Raghuvir Bagkar approached the district and sessions court in Panaji on Thursday, which granted them interim relief. Their anticipatory bail pleas will be heard on Friday.
The state government has suspended Bagkar along with two other officials — Shamila Monteiro, then member secretary of the Goa State Pollution Control Board, and Siddhi Halarnkar, then director of panchayats.
Redkar visited the Anjuna Police Station on Thursday night with the court order granting interim protection.
“We came here to submit a copy of the order to the police. We have told them that we are cooperating with them in their investigation,” the lawyer accompanying him told reporters outside the station.
Redkar reiterated that he is cooperating with police in the probe into the incident.
(With PTI inputs)
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
