Goa nightclub blaze: ED attaches properties worth Rs 11 crore

📌 Summary:

• ED Panaji zonal office has attached properties worth over Rs 11.01 crore under PMLA in the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub case in Goa
• The December 6, 2025 fire at the Arpora (North Goa) nightclub killed 25 people including 5 tourists
• Owners Saurabh & Gaurav Luthra booked Delhi-Phuket flight tickets 90 minutes after the blaze and fled at 5.30 am on Dec 7
• Goa Police booked owners, partners, manager and event organisers under culpable homicide (BNS, 2023)
• A government magisterial inquiry found local panchayat "colluded" with the property owners, allowing the club to run without a valid trade licence; panchayat "failed in its statutory duty"
• ED probe (PMLA) revealed M/s Being GS Hospitality Goa Arpora LLP operated without mandatory approvals — including fire NOC — and used forged/fabricated NOCs and statutory documents

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Internal Security — Money-laundering, anti-money laundering enforcement (ED/PMLA); GS4 Ethics — collusion of local bodies in regulatory failure.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), 2002 — ED is the principal enforcement agency
• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 — replaced IPC; "culpable homicide" sections now under BNS
• Provisional attachment under PMLA Section 5 — subject to confirmation by Adjudicating Authority within 180 days

🔑 Key Term: Provisional Attachment under PMLA — ED's power to provisionally attach property believed to be "proceeds of crime", subject to confirmation by the Adjudicating Authority.