Nation

XPanaji: A man, who claims to be the original owner of the land on which fire-ravaged ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ stood, has alleged that a portion of his property was converted from a salt pan to a settlement zone without his knowledge, to benefit the club. Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar said he had signed a sale agreement with Surinder Kumar Khosla in 2004, but it was withdrawn within six months as he did not receive the payment. Kholsa set up a nightclub on the land, and it was later taken over by Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, owners of Birch by Romeo Lane. A blaze swept through the nightclub at Arpora village in North Goa around midnight on December 6, killing 25 persons, most of them staff and a few tourists. Amonkar said he is fighting a court battle against Khosla over the land. “For 21 year

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