PANJIM: Had it not been for one of his friends, Arman Mehta might have cheated a group of people of huge amounts of money in the guise of holding a nude party at Morjim. The man behind triggering a buzz about the proposed party proved quite the black sheep, not just spoiling Mehta’s plans to allegedly loot his own friends but also landing Mehta in jail. 

The highly controversial poster, revealing Mehta’s contact numbers, was leaked by one of his confidants on a social media platform prompting calls from parts of India and countries like Thailand, Belgium and Dubai with inquiries about the event. 

“Mehta had picked the poster from a website, added his contact number and circulated it on a WhatsApp group asking his group members to join in. He wanted to earn money to recover losses in his business not realising it would go viral. He had no intention of holding the party, but it was his modus operandi to cheat his WhatsApp group members,” a source in the Police Department told Herald.  

The flamboyant 30-year-old has been remanded to judicial custody after nearly 10 days of custodial interrogation. 

Herald has learnt that after running an event firm in Delhi, Mehta went into hiding across places close to the international borders of India-Bhutan and India-Bangladesh. After relentless efforts by two teams of Goa Police for nearly a week, Mehta was caught from his home at Katihar (Bihar) during the early hours of September 29. 

“Mehta’s plan for a nude party was restricted to his WhatsApp group, but after the leak, it led to endless calls from people inquiring and confirming their attendance at the party. He panicked with the response,” the source said. It is learnt that he was offered Rs 50,000 and above from each caller.  

It was on receiving a call from a police inspector, who began an inquiry before the registration of FIR by Crime Branch, that Mehta panicked and switched off his phone. 

Calls from students, doctors and other professionals from Goa, Kerala, Mumbai, Jaipur, etc, besides from three other countries have also come under investigation. It is learnt that a father of two, Mehta has told the investigating teams that he escaped to West Bengal and later his native State until the matter was settled. “After the Goa government ordered a probe, Mehta was more conscious about his movements. He escaped to Siliguri, and later Katihar. He was also hiding close to the borders of Bangladesh and Bhutan,” the source added. 

Separate teams dispatched to different locations quizzed one of his female friends in Delhi and his relatives in Poornia before laying their hands on him. Now under police scanner, the Crime Branch team is preparing to quiz several others, including members of his WhatsApp group and his relatives.

Herald contacted the SP Crime Branch Pankaj Kumar Singh, who only confirmed that Mehta did not intend to host any such party in Goa and the poster was only a way to create a hype for himself.