New Year revellers in Miami heat

Partygoers were fuming after organisers of Miami Grind party at Hotel Tulip Star ran out of food, alcohol at midnight

New Year revellers in Miami heat

Partygoers were fuming after organisers of Miami Grind party at Hotel Tulip Star ran out of food, alcohol at midnight

Advertisements for the Miami Grind New Year party at the Tulip Star in Juhu promised a pool party with a free flowing bar and sumptuous food. Enthralled, more than 4,000 people bought passes worth between Rs 1,500
and Rs 4,000 to bring in the New Year.

But what they encountered was utter chaos after the police forced the party to shut at 12.30 am instead of the promised deadline of 5 am. To make matters worse, the organisers ran out of food and alcohol at the party. This resulted in several fights between revellers and waiters.

"I wanted my wife and two children to have fun on New Year's Eve, but the event has upset us. They got scared after seeing the not-so-polished crowd there. There were lots of fights too after the food and beverages got over," said Minish Mehta, who spent Rs 1,500 per head.

Rakesh Naik is so upset that he's considering taking the legal route against the organisers. "I will drag these people to the consumer court for cheating the public in such a manner. They got a lot of money from this event, but didn't give us anything in return," he said.

'Not our fault'

One of the organisers, Karan Shah, said they aren't to blame for the chaos. "The party at the nearby J W Marriott got cancelled. So people from there, gatecrashed our party. That's why we ran out of food."

Inspector R Bhosle from Santacruz police station added, "One of the organisers came to our police station and said that some anti-social elements entered the event and messed up everything." The police even gave shelter to one of Shah's colleagues after angry revellers tried to beat him up.

Party promises
The organisers had distributed T-shirts to coconut vendors around Juhu, and also pasted banners promoting their event on coconuts. They promised international DJs, Miami dancers, hookah lounge, pool party, free flowing bar, sumptuous food, tattoo parlour and fun casino at the event.