Police seek student last seen in nightclub
By Jon Ward
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Metropolitan Police are searching for a 22-year-old University of Maryland student who vanished from a D.C. nightclub early Saturday.
Authorities yesterday subpoenaed the cell phone records of Arvin Sharma of Greenbelt. He disappeared after 2 a.m. Saturday from Club Lime, a Caribbean-themed nightclub in the 1800 block of Half Street SW.
According to his brother Ashish, Arvin was at the club with longtime friends, most of whom attend the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Ashish, who shared an apartment with Arvin, said he suspects foul play because his brother would not disappear without contacting his family.
"Either someone slipped something in his drink and took him out the front door, or something happened at the club and he walked in on it and ... he saw something he wasn't supposed to," said Ashish, 27.
Ashish said he had listened to his brother's cell phone messages from Saturday. Several of the voicemail messages ? from worried friends wondering where Arvin was ? have not been checked, he said.
"It's not like he would have left on his own. He didn't have a car. To get to a cab you'd have to walk four or five blocks," Ashish said.
"You can't help but think there was some kind of foul play involved," he said.
Arvin is scheduled to graduate with honors May 20 with a bachelor's degree in geographic information systems and economics. He is the U.S.-born son of Nepalese immigrants.
Arvin is about 6-foot-1-inch and weighs between 180 and 200 pounds, police said. He has brown eyes and black hair, a thick mustache and a small goatee.
When he was last seen, Arvin was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, blue jeans, tan Timberland boots and a black New York Yankees hat. He has a large mole or birthmark on his left forearm.
There is some discrepancy over when he was last seen.
His friends said they last saw him about 2 a.m. in the club. Police said Arvin was last seen at 4 a.m. when his friends left the club, which was host to an event sponsored by Caribbean student groups from Howard and Morgan State universities.
"We want anybody that knows anything or anybody that was at that location that night and may have seen him to give us a call," Officer Kenneth Bryson said.
Anyone with information about Arvin's whereabouts is asked to call 202/727-9099.
