PANAJI
A team from the Goa police travelled to New Delhi on Monday evening to formally take custody of Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra from the Central Bureau of Investigation, officials said, as Indian and Thai authorities have been completing their deportation from Thailand.
CBI officers arrived in Bangkok over the weekend to coordinate the final stages of the deportation process with Thai authorities. While the process was expedited on Friday, a day after their detention in Phuket; the weekend holiday delayed the process.
Officials said the Luthras will be handed over to the Goa police in Delhi ruling out any travel by Goa police to Thailand. The Goan had reported last week that the local police remained on standby, with central agencies expected to handle the overseas leg of the operation.
Under the current schedule, the brothers are expected to arrive in Goa on Tuesday night. They will be taken directly to the Anjuna Police Station for questioning and produced before the Mapusa court on December 17.
The Goa government has meanwhile constituted a special legal team to pursue the case. The duo along with the six currently in police custody, have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, along with other serious sections dealing with negligence endangering human life, negligent handling of fire or combustible materials, and common intention, among others.
“The deportation of the Luthra brothers from Thailand has now entered its final phase. Indian authorities have submitted all required documentation to the Thai counterparts including Emergency Certificates issued after the cancellation of the brothers’ passports. Procedural hurdles that had delayed the process have largely been resolved,” officials said. The Thai officials will now be issuing emergency travel certificates.
Earlier on Monday, lawyers representing the Luthra brothers met them in Thai custody for about 30 minutes. The brothers were detained by Thai police at the Indigo Hotel in Patong, Phuket, last Thursday, following India’s move to suspend their passports.
The Embassy of India in Bangkok, Interpol, the CBI and the Goa Police have been coordinating with Thai authorities since the Luthras were traced and detained. The brothers had fled India on December 7, shortly after the fatal fire at the Birch nightclub in Goa.
