A woman has levelled serious allegations of alleged assault and unsafe conditions at Goa’s Birch by Romeo Lane, just days before a fire claimed 25 lives at the nightclub.
The woman, identified as Vaibhavi Chandel, a resident of Mumbai, told ANI that during a visit to Romeo Lane on November 1 with 12 cousins, she and her family were verbally abused and physically assaulted by the club’s manager and security staff.
According to Vaibhavi’s account, the club’s layout itself posed safety risks. She described the venue as “suffocating”, with just one entrance and one exit placed at a height, which makes it hard to get in and out.
“When we were leaving the club around 3 am, a heavy chair was in our way. My cousin shifted it aside with his foot… The manager came to us and said, ‘You are damaging the furniture; we should have thrown you out earlier. You don’t have the status to be here,” she said.
She added that the manager then grabbed her cousin’s collar and spoke to them rudely.