The owner of Melbourne’s most notorious nightclub, Love Machine in the city’s inner south-east, was looking for hospitality work overseas in the months before another arson attack struck his scandal-ridden venue.
Nightclub owner Dhir Kakar, director of Sterling Nightclubs Pty Ltd, which is backed by a consortium of investors from Melbourne and India, had been seeking work in the Middle East just four months before the Prahran club went up in flames in a suspected firebombing in the early hours of Thursday morning.
In November last year, he responded to a LinkedIn job advertisement for a restaurant manager role at Beach, Bar and Grill outlets within a five-star resort in Dubai Marina.
‘I’m interested in this – where I should apply?’ he wrote.
That same month, he also commented ‘interested’ on another job advertisement seeking a bar manager for one of Dubai’s ‘most exclusive beach clubs’.
Kakar, 46, is now understood to be in India after the latest attack.
The father-of-three is no stranger to the highs and lows of Melbourne nightlife, having worked at Young and Jackson pub in the CBD, The Espy in St Kilda and Revelers Bar on Chapel Street – just metres from Love Machine.
While he may have been eyeing a move to Dubai, he has also been looking for love on dating sites Matchfinder and IndianCupid, under its ‘Chubby Indian Men’ section, where he claimed to be 40.
Nightclub boss Dhir Kakar (pictured) is the director of Sterling Nightclubs Pty Ltd, which is backed by a consortium of investors from Melbourne and India
Officers spotted the blaze at the corner of Malvern Road and Chapel Street in Prahran while on patrol shortly after 2am.
Officers spotted the blaze at the corner of Malvern Road and Chapel Street in Prahran while on patrol shortly after 2am.
A witness called triple zero around the same time to report a loud bang and a light-coloured hatchback fleeing the scene.
Fire crews arrived within four minutes, with 45 firefighters called in to battle the inferno.
Local Area Commander Acting Inspector Kim Bramwell said police were treating the blaze as suspicious, noting the club’s front roller door had been forced open with ‘significant force’.
‘It is quite possible that it was rammed, and that’s an avenue we will investigate,’ she said.
‘Everything is on the table.’
Police believe a number of offenders used a vehicle to ram the front door before spreading accelerant and setting it alight.
Two 20-litre jerry cans were seized from the front of the premises.
‘We are very lucky this occurred overnight on a weeknight rather than on a weekend, with Chapel Street being such a thriving entertainment precinct… there’s no one hurt, and that’s our saving grace at this moment,’ Acting Inspector Bramwell said.
Dhir Kakar responded to hospitality job vacancy advertisements in Dubai on LinkedIn
Sterling Nightclubs also operated Lux nightclub (pictured) in South Yarra a short walk from Love Machine, which was also targeted in a separate arson attack in November 2024
Kakar, 46, has been linked to troubled venues rocked by years of scandal, including arson attacks, a double-fatal drive-by shooting, rape allegations, violent brawls involving gangland figures, and dramatic confrontations between bikies and security staff.
Last year, Western Bulldogs star Jamarra Ugle-Hagan narrowly avoided being shot when gunmen opened fire in the early hours of a Sunday morning.
Ugle-Hagan, who was not accused of any wrongdoing, was inside the notorious club when an argument broke out before shots were fired outside the building in what was the third violent attack at the venue in a matter of weeks at the time.
Residents had previously called for Love Machine to be shut down for good, after the liquor regulator ordered the club to close following a spate of violent incidents.
The venue’s licensee was later served with a suspension order amid ongoing violence and brawls.
In April 2019, a security guard and a patron were killed in an early morning drive-by shooting outside the venue, with three others struck by bullets.
Jacob Elliott, the son of self-described ‘Mad Lebo’ Nabil Maghnie, fired four shots towards Love Machine nightclub from a car driven by Allan Fares, 24, on April 14, 2019.
The pair argued they didn’t do so with murderous intent, but a jury found both men guilty of the charge on Thursday afternoon.
Dhir Kakar, 46, was pictured on a dating website for ‘chubby Indian men’
Plume’s of smoke could be seen coming from the building on Thursday
The fire wiped out power on Chapel street with traffic redirected on Thursday morning
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Security guard Aaron Osmani, 37, and club patron Richard Arow, 28, were both fatally hit in the head by the shots outside the venue on Little Chapel Street.
Sterling Nightclubs also operated Lux nightclub in South Yarra, a short walk from Love Machine, was also targeted in a separate arson attack in November 2024.
No one was injured as the club was closed at the time.
Victoria Police said two men — aged 21 and 22 from Pakenham on Melbourne’s outskirts — had been arrested in relation to the fire.
Police have urged anyone with information to come forward.
Daily Mail has contacted Mr Kakr for comment.
