Revellers went berserk at high tide festival
PANAJI
Despite being under the Goa Police scanner, Kapil Jhaveri, a small-time Bollywood actor, is said to have organised a rave party styled “High Tide Festival” linked to Valentine’s Day at Ashvem beach village in Pernem taluka.
The event, a video of which has surfaced on social media, was held at ‘Solaris Underground’ a venue carved out of a hill at Ashvem from where one gets a breathtaking view of the Arabian sea.
Held on February 14 (Valentine’s Day), some of who eye-witnesses told The Goan that this was the fourth edition of the ‘High Tide’ festival held at the same venue since 2018.
Jhaveri reportedly organised the event under the aegis of his XLNC Network Pvt Ltd, a company in which he is a director.
The video of the event which surfaced on social media shows revellers paying scant adherence to pandemic norms such as wearing of masks or maintaining social distancing, a matter health authorities have raised concern about in Goa recently where relaxation of norms has seen the tourism sector bubbling with activity in the North Goa belt.
Police officials meanwhile refused to acknowledge or comment on the event.
Jhaveri, it may be recalled, was among 23 persons arrested in August last year when in a post-midnight raid the sleuths of Goa Police’s Crime Branch had seized drugs at a posh villa in Anjuna and where a rave party was on.
Also among those arrested in that Anjuna raid and drug seizure case, including for pandemic rules violations, were three foreigner women.
In subsequent investigations of that case, the police had also netted Shailesh Shetty, a well-connected party facilitator who is also behind the popular Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival Sunburn.
Police had said then that Shetty was arrested for his
involvement in organising such parties which were under investigation.
Both Jhaveri and Shetty had subsequently got bail under stringent conditions imposed by the court in the case.
With Covid cases showing a sudden spike in recent days in Mumbai and some other regions of neighbouring Maharashtra, health authorities are concerned over the possibility of another wave of infections in the country.
Scant respect for precautionary measures in the party circuit of North Goa tourism belt where instances of large-scale crowding have often been reported is also causing concern.
