Romeo Lane Goa Assault Case: Romeo Lane Beach Shack in Vagator, Goa, which is a property owned by Luthra Brothers, is once again embroiled in controversy. Last month, an FIR was registered against the club staff for assault on a woman and her family.

Mumbai resident Vaibhavi Chandel, who had gone to the club with her family on November 1, alleged that the club staff misbehaved with her, behaved inappropriately and beat her and her family with iron rods. He described the club as very suffocating and said that there is only one entry and exit door, which makes it very difficult to get out.

‘Staff abused, bouncers attacked’

Chandel said, ‘We were a total of 13 people. The structure of the club is such that it is very suffocating. Only one entry and one exit, that too at a height. When we were leaving at 3 o’clock in the night, my cousin slightly moved the heavy chair placed on the way, due to which the staff got angry. He told that the club manager accused him of damaging the furniture and said, ‘You should have thrown him out earlier. You people don’t have the capacity to live here. After this the manager caught hold of his cousin’s collar.

Chandel said that when they were trying to leave after apologizing, the manager called all the security personnel and bouncers. They ran after us and started beating us. Attacked my sister on the chest, pushed her and made her fall down the stairs. Barricades were placed at the entry gate so that we could not go out. When my brother removed the barricade, a bouncer came with a rod and beat him brutally. It is recorded in the FIR that when Chandel tried to save his brother, the staff slapped him and tried to grab his T-shirt. He told that the staff kept abusing continuously.

#WATCH Mumbai , Vaibhavi, who visited the beach shack Romeo Lane Vagator owned by the detained Luthra brothers in November, said, “I visited Romeo Lane in Vagator on 1st November with my cousins. We were 13 people in total… The club is built in such a way that it is very… pic.twitter.com/9HDE6r5pSU

— ANI (@ANI) December 11, 2025

‘There was difficulty even in filing FIR’

Chandel said, ‘Everyone was badly injured so we went to the police in the morning. They called us to Anjuna police station the next day. After a lot of efforts somehow an FIR could be registered. FIR was registered against club manager Ajay Kavitkar, staff member Junaid Ali and security staff. The woman had also included the names of Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra in the complaint, but the police said that they were not present at the time of the incident and hence their names were removed. He said, ‘If the safety of women and tourists is not taken seriously, such cases will definitely happen again in Goa.’ Investigation revealed that the restaurant was built illegally on government land.

Luthra Brothers fled the country after the fire tragedy

Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra, facing charges of culpable homicide, fled the country just hours after the accident. Both of them flew to Phuket, Thailand on Indigo flight. He was present in Delhi at the time of the incident.

Due to the operational crisis of the country’s largest airline IndiGo, passengers are suffering due to flight cancellations and delays. Meanwhile, the government data presented in the Lok Sabha on Thursday (December 11, 2025) presented a worrying picture of the Indian aviation sector. Despite the continuously increasing demand, this industry is currently immersed in massive losses.

Only Indigo is profitable
According to the written reply given by the Civil Aviation Ministry, IndiGo was the only major airline to make profit in the financial year 2024-25. The company registered a profit of Rs 7,253 crore during this period. In contrast, government airline Air India suffered a loss of Rs 3,976 crore, Air India Express Rs 5,832 crore, Akasa Air Rs 1,986 crore and Alliance Air suffered a loss of Rs 691 crore. SpiceJet also remained in loss and recorded a loss of Rs 56 crore. The small-scale operator Star Air was an exception, earning a modest profit of Rs 68 crore.

old series of losses
This economic crisis is not new. In the financial year 2022-23, Indian Airlines had incurred a collective loss of more than Rs 18,600 crore. Air India alone lost Rs 11,387 crore, while IndiGo also suffered a loss of Rs 316 crore. Although Indigo made a strong comeback in the next financial year 2023-24 and registered a profit of Rs 8,167 crore, other companies could not get out of the quagmire of losses. Air India suffered a loss of Rs 4,444 crore and SpiceJet suffered a loss of Rs 404 crore.

Demand increased, but debt and cost increased problems
This is the situation when the number of people flying in the country is continuously increasing. In the financial year 2024-25, the number of domestic passengers increased by 7.7% to 16.55 crore. Despite this, airlines are stuck in a cycle of heavy debt, high operating costs and low margins. For this reason, new players are afraid to enter the market, while the demand is continuously touching record levels.

Passengers troubled by Indigo crisis, lack of options increases difficulties
The recent operational crisis of IndiGo, which has about 65% domestic market share, has shaken the entire system. Thousands of flights had to be canceled due to severe crew shortage and new duty-time regulations. Competing airlines are already facing financial crisis, hence passengers are left with very limited options. As a result, crowding at airports is increasing, fares are skyrocketing and passenger dissatisfaction is also increasing.

After massive delays and cancellations in IndiGo flights, the company has formed a crisis management team. The company’s parent company InterGlobe Aviation said that this team will keep an eye on the situation and try to normalize the situation.

Decision taken after board meeting
In a statement issued by InterGlobe Aviation, it was said that as soon as the problem of cancellation and delay of flights came to light, an immediate meeting of the Board of Directors was called. In this meeting, the management team informed the board members about the seriousness of the situation and the reasons.

Company formed Crisis Management Group
According to the statement, after the board meeting, it was decided to form a Crisis Management Group (CMG). This group includes Chairman Vikram Singh Mehta, Board Directors Greg Saretsky, Mike Whittaker, Amitabh Kant, and company CEO Peter Albers. This team is continuously monitoring the situation and taking updates from the management as to what steps are being taken to normalize the flights.

Steps to provide relief to customers
The company said that the board is taking immediate steps to mitigate the problems of all affected passengers. Passengers are being given refund on cancellation and relief in additional charges on change of date.

IndiGo Spokesperson says, “The Board of Directors of Interglobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo) met on the first day the problem of cancellations and delayed flights arose. The members received a detailed briefing from the Management on the nature and extent of the crisis. This meeting… pic.twitter.com/C7jBPHicnF

— ANI (@ANI) December 7, 2025

DGCA issued show-cause notice
Here, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo CEO Peter Elbers regarding the huge disruption in flights. DGCA said that in recent times, passengers have been troubled by huge delays and cancellations in IndiGo flights and this is the result of gross negligence in planning and resource management.

What is the main reason for the delay?
Since last one week, many IndiGo flights are getting delayed or cancelled. The main reason for this has been attributed to the new FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) rules implemented by DGCA, ‘due to which there was a sudden shortage of pilots and crew’.

After the cancellation of a large number of Indigo flights and the sudden increase in ticket prices, the Aviation Ministry has taken a big step and imposed a maximum limit on the fares of domestic economy class flights. This decision has been taken for the safety of passengers and to stop excessive fare collection.

Government imposed cap on domestic flight fares
Amidst the IndiGo crisis and rising air fares, the government has set a maximum limit on domestic flight fares. This rule has come into effect immediately from 6 December 2025. The new prices are as follows:

Distance (km) Maximum fare
0–500 KM ₹7,500
500–1000 KM ₹12,000
1000–1500 KM ₹15,000
More than 1500 KM ₹18,000

The government has clarified that these fare limits do not include Airport Development Fee (UDF), Passenger Service Fee (PSF) and taxes. Also, this rule will not apply to business class and flights operating under the UDAN scheme.

IndiGo announces relief for passengers
Indigo has announced that cancellation charges will be completely waived on all tickets traveling from 5 December 2025 to 15 December 2025. IndiGo has also said that no additional charges will be levied on rescheduling and refunds will be automatically sent back to the passengers’ original payment mode. Passengers will not have to take any additional action for this process.

The situation of flight cancellations still continues
Although the situation is improving at some places, the process of cancellation of flights is still going on across the country. More than 1,000 flights remained closed on Friday and 550 flights were canceled the previous day. Improvement is visible in Delhi, but problems still persist in other airports like Thiruvananthapuram and Ahmedabad, where 9 and 19 flights were cancelled.

Government said- operations will be normal soon
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said that flight operations are rapidly returning to normal and the chaos is expected to end to a large extent by Sunday. He said that a committee has been formed to investigate the causes of the problem, which is reviewing airline operations, scheduling and compliance with rules.

Gaurav Patil, resident of Thane, Maharashtra, had gone to Kerala to celebrate his wedding anniversary. He is an IT professional and works in Bahrain. Today (06 December) i.e. Saturday is the last day of his leave. He was to go for his duty from Sunday (07 December) but due to mismanagement of IndiGo, his bag remained in Bengaluru. That bag contains all the important documents including his passport.

A passenger named Gaurav Patil now says that how can he travel in an international flight without a passport? If he doesn’t go even today, money will be deducted from his salary. He has demanded from Indigo that if he is not sent today then they will have to pay him his daily salary.

IndiGo flights at Srinagar International Airport remained affected for the second consecutive day. A total of 16 flights were canceled till Saturday (December 6) morning, due to which passengers faced a lot of problems.

According to airport officials, a total of 64 flights were scheduled for Saturday, 32 incoming and 32 outgoing. Of these, Indigo had 36 flights, which included 18 arrivals and 18 departures. But the company canceled 14 of these flights. The good thing was that no delay was reported in the morning flights.

Two flights of other airlines also canceled

Apart from Indigo, two flights of other airlines were also cancelled. In this way the total number of canceled flights became 16. According to officials, at present the remaining flights are running as per schedule, but the situation may change at any time considering weather and operational challenges.

Airport officials requested passengers to check the latest status of their flight before leaving home. An official said that we urge passengers to confirm the flight timings and reach the airport well in time to avoid inconvenience.

Crew shortage in Indigo

This latest cancellation comes just a day after the major disruption when 41 flights were canceled on Thursday, of which 39 were of IndiGo. This crisis in IndiGo has arisen due to lack of pilots following internal compliance processes and new safety instructions issued by DGCA.

After increasing strictness regarding crew scheduling within airlines, it is not possible to operate many flights. Due to this, passengers had to face disruption in their journey for the second consecutive day.

Uncertainty among passengers has increased after flights were canceled for two consecutive days. Officials say that efforts are being made to improve the situation, but it is difficult to say when normal operations will be restored.

The central government has come on the backfoot on Friday after the country’s largest airline company Indigo canceled more than 1700 flights in the last 4 days. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given temporary relief to airlines, especially IndiGo, till 10 February 2026. The decision of not giving any leave in lieu of weekly rest was withdrawn.

Indigo flights are being badly affected for the last several days. Today i.e. 5th December was the worst day, when more than 1000 flights were cancelled. More than half the schedules are being affected every day. From tomorrow (6th December) the cancellations will come down to less than 1000. That means getting exemption in FDTL from DGCA is helping in recovery. Indigo says that it will take time till December 15 for flight operations to become normal.

Government formed high level committee
Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said that the government has also ordered a high-level inquiry into this entire incident, so that the cause of this crisis and responsibility can be fixed. He said that Indigo flights will become completely normal in the next three days.

IndiGo CEO Peter Albers said, ‘We apologize to everyone for the cancellation and delay of IndiGo flights. The entire system is rebooting. It will take time for the situation to become normal. The situation will become normal from 10 to 15 December. There have been more problems in the last few days. Today more than 1 thousand flights have been cancelled.

Flight ticket prices increased 10 times
In search of alternative flights, passengers have to buy tickets at up to 10 times the normal price. According to booking site MakeMyTrip, the cheapest flight fare from Delhi to Bangalore on December 6 is more than Rs 40,000, while the fare of some flights is up to Rs 80,000.

In fact, Indigo is facing shortage of crew members for the fourth consecutive day on Friday. Due to this, more than 1000 flights were canceled at many airports including Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad. Passengers have been waiting for the flight for 24 hours. At Delhi airport, passengers were seen arguing and fighting with the staff and security personnel over water, food and essential items.

Indigo claims- problems due to government rules
Indigo claims that due to this rule there was a shortage of pilots and other staff and the entire operation was affected. It will take time to fix it. DGCA had implemented the second phase of Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) from November 1, rules related to the work of pilots and other crew members. The first phase came into effect on 1 July.

In the rules of the second phase of FDTL, it was made mandatory for the airline companies to give 48 hours of rest in a week to the pilots, i.e. two days weekly rest. During this period, there was a ban on counting any holiday as weekly rest. DGCA had also banned continuous night shifts of pilots and other crew members.

India’s largest airline IndiGo, which flies more than 1 crore passengers every month, is going through its worst phase for the last 10-12 days. In the beginning of December suddenly 400-600 flights started getting canceled every day. There was uproar at big airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Indore. People stood in queues for hours, ticket prices doubled and tripled and anger erupted on social media. The question in everyone’s mind is what is happening with Indigo?

Government has taken 7 major actions so far in Indigo case

1. On 4 December 2025, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu held a major review meeting. This included senior management of MoCA, DGCA, AAI and Indigo. The minister said that passenger facilities should be taken full care of and the situation should be brought back to normal immediately.
2. Understanding the operational problems of IndiGo, DGCA gave a one-time relaxation, which will provide flexibility in some FDTL rules till 10 February 2026. DGCA will review this exemption every 15 days and will take continuous improvement reports from IndiGo. Especially on crew shortage and hiring.
3. DGCA has appealed to all pilot associations to extend full support to IndiGo in view of the huge demand during winter vacation and wedding season.
4. DGCA gave further relief to IndiGo by allowing pilots who were currently engaged in training or other work to be sent for flying duty. Currently, 12 FOIs (DGCA officers who are themselves on deputation from IndiGo) have also been allowed to fly for a week.
5. 12 licensed FOIs of IndiGo, who have less seniority, have been relieved from flying duty by DGCA. So that they can help in the investigation and inspection of DGCA.
6. DGCA has also deployed its team in IndiGo’s control center, which is monitoring the flights in real time. Especially on delays, cancellations and passenger convenience.
7. DGCA has formed a four-member inquiry committee, which will find out why such a major operational lapse took place in IndiGo. The committee will also decide who had what responsibility and how effective the measures for further improvement are.

There was a mess due to the new rules of the government
The new pilot duty rules (FDTL Phase-2) of the Central Government came into force and IndiGo was not at all prepared for it. The Pilot Union filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in January 2024. In this, the issue of flight safety was raised due to excessive working hours and fatigue of pilots. After the order of the High Court, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) made changes in the Flight Duty Time Limitation i.e. FDTL rules. These rules were to be implemented in two parts.

On July 1, 2025, Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules were implemented to give rest to the pilots. Under this, it was made mandatory for airline companies to give pilots 48 hours of rest instead of 36 hours a week, i.e. two days weekly rest. During this period, there was a ban on counting any holiday as weekly rest. The objective was very good that the less tired the pilot is, the safer the flight will be. But these rules reduced the availability of pilots by 15-20%.

In the second phase of FDTL, from November 1, DGCA had also banned continuous night shifts of pilots and other crew members.

• Earlier, rest was available for 36 hours in a week, now 48 hours is mandatory. This means each pilot can fly about one day less in a week.
• Night duty was earlier considered to be from 12 noon to 5 am, now till 6 am. That means one more hour more.
• A pilot can do only 2 night landings in a week, earlier there was a relaxation of up to 6.
• Night duty cannot be done for more than two consecutive nights.
• The most dangerous rule was that if the flight went on for even 1 minute after 12 o’clock in the night, then the entire duty was considered as night duty and the pilot would not be able to fly 1-2 flights in the morning the next day.

This meant only one thing: a pilot is no longer able to fly as many flights as he could before.

1700 flights canceled in last 4 days
In the DGCA meeting, IndiGo itself admitted that it had miscalculated the actual need of pilots. Made a mistake in assuming that crew availability will reduce after the implementation of the new rules. There were delays and shortcomings in making the roster and preparations for Phase-2 were incomplete. After the introduction of new rules, Indigo could not overcome the shortage of pilots and other staff and in the last 4 days Indigo canceled more than 1700 flights.

Maximum 225 flights have been canceled in Delhi. 32 flights were canceled in Pune. 197 flights were canceled at Hyderabad Airport in 3 days, while 155 flights were canceled at Shamshabad Airport. Bengaluru: 102 flights have been cancelled.

The new rules have the biggest impact on Indigo.

The entire business model of IndiGo is based on more flights, lower prices and faster turnout. More than 70% of its flights operate at night or till late night. There are frequent flights on short routes. When the new rules came, there was a sudden shortage of pilots.

The biggest mistake was that despite getting 18-20 months time, IndiGo did not increase the number of pilots as per the new rules. Rest of the airlines like Air India, Vistara and Akasa Air had already recruited pilots. Indigo could not manage this change.

As a result, hundreds of flights were canceled every day from the last week of November to the first week of December. Thousands of passengers remained stranded at the airport hungry and thirsty for 24 hours. Flight fares have skyrocketed. The company’s shares fell by 10-12% in the stock market.

The government found a middle solution
DGCA had to bow down due to severe problems of passengers and fear of collapse of the entire aviation system. Giving immediate relief on 5 December 2025, it was announced that now if the flight leaves even a little after 12 midnight, it will not be considered as full night duty. This means that the pilot will be able to fly the morning flight the next day comfortably. The decision of not giving any leave in lieu of weekly rest was withdrawn. The Civil Aviation Minister has directed all the airlines to give full refund in case of flight cancellation. Also, the stranded people have been asked to make proper arrangements to stay in hotels.

But this exemption was not given for free. DGCA has kept strict vigil on Indigo-

• Every 15 days, a complete report will have to be given as to how many pilots were increased and how the roster was corrected.
• Within 30 days, a complete roadmap will have to be given as to how the new rules will be followed 100% by 10 February 2026.
• There will not be even an inch of relaxation in all other safety related rules.

Then what will happen next?
Indigo has apologized and said that most of the flights will become normal by 10-15 December and everything will be completely fine by January. The company is now rapidly hiring pilots and changing the rostering system. But this whole matter has given a big lesson that aviation in India is growing so fast that only one company has more than 60% of the market. If it falters, the entire aviation system falters. Now the government and other airlines have also understood that thousands of new pilots and hundreds of new aircraft are needed in the next 5 years, otherwise such crises will occur again and again.

On the cancellation of IndiGo flights, aviation expert Subhash Goyal said, ‘To make air travel safe, pilots were demanding more rest hours in line with international rules. Therefore, after the court order, DGCA issued new rules. All airlines were instructed more than a year ago to recruit more pilots and staff and prepare for the new rules. All airlines like Akasa, SpiceJet, Air India and Air India Express followed this. However, IndiGo not only flouted the rules but also expanded its international route network and increased domestic flights without increasing the number of crew and pilots. As a result, when the government wanted to enforce the policy deadline, IndiGo stopped most of its flights instead of reducing some of its flights. This caused complete anarchy.

#WATCH Delhi: On IndiGo flight cancellations, Aviation expert, Subhash Goyal says, “To make air travel safer, pilots were demanding more rest hours in line with international regulations. Therefore, the DGCA issued new regulations, following court orders. All airlines were… pic.twitter.com/hm39HmqLPB

— ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2025

Cancellation of Indigo Airlines flights for the fourth consecutive day at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Telangana broke the patience of passengers. More than 197 flights have been canceled since the crisis started on December 2. This included 31 flights on 3 December, 68 flights on 4 December and 92 flights on 5 December. Technical glitches, crew shortage, absence of pilots and airport congestion brought the entire network to a standstill. DGCA has started investigation, but passengers are not being given complete information nor are there any other options.

Passengers stranded at airport hungry and thirsty for 24 hours
Thousands of passengers from many states and countries are stranded at the airport for more than 24 hours. A 70-year-old couple returning from Mumbai to Hyderabad was kept at the gate for 14 hours, neither did they get food nor a place to stay. A passenger said, ‘Our luggage had been checked-in, but due to cancellation of flights, we remained stuck here. Now waiting for the goods for 16 hours.

A group going to Pune had to take alternative routes by cab and train, while a businessman arriving in London complained that he was supposed to reach home on the morning of December 5, but was stuck at the airport for 24 hours, hungry and thirsty. Many passengers reached the airport directly from the hospital, but their plans were ruined due to flight cancellation.

Devotees were delayed in reaching the temple, did not get darshan
The biggest problem is being faced by the devotees who were going for darshan in many cities. More than 50 devotees, who arrived on time for the annual festival of Sabarimala temple, had come from several states in South India. A devotee said, ‘The time to visit the temple has passed. Due to the delay of Indigo Airlines, questions are being raised on faith. Devotees have been protesting at the gate for the last 12 hours, but there is no result.

Passengers and staff clash at the airport
Passengers waiting for several hours clashed with the airport staff, due to which security forces had to be deployed. In a video, passengers were raising slogans of ‘Give food, give hotel’. Indigo issued a statement citing glitches in operations, but did not give any specific time. RGIA tweeted on X and advised to contact the airlines, but the ground staff has no response.

155 flights canceled at Shamshabad airport
This is the situation not only at Hyderabad Airport but also at Shamshabad Airport. 155 flights have been canceled from Shamshabad airport in the last 4 days. According to airport sources, so far 84 departure and 71 arrival flights have been cancelled. Indigo Airlines has canceled the maximum number of flights. The airport administration has appealed for cooperation, but it is becoming difficult to control the angry passengers.