Another person who became drawn to Merwan Seth at this time was Arjun Dagdu Supekar , 24, who owned a small tobacco shop near the toddyshop. Fond of chewing tobacco and paan, Merwan Seth became one of Arjun's regular customers, buying jarda , a strong type of chewing tobacco. He would sit with Arjun chewing the tobacco and talking to him at length.
"How is your business?" inquired Merwan Seth. "Do you make enough money? How is your family? How many children do you want?" and so forth.
Arjun was deeply touched by Merwan Seth's sincere interest and sympathy, and eventually confessed that he was barely surviving financially.
Merwan Seth started spending a lot of time at Arjun's shop, buying tobacco and paan for himself and others. At times he would sing the songs of Tukaram, Swami Ramdas and Kabir, and thus Arjun, a devout Hindu, became convinced that Merwan Seth was a spiritual figure. His heart was fatally wounded by Merwan's arrow of love. Eventually, all of Arjun's family became devoted to Merwan Seth.
Merwan's boyhood friend Baily was still stationed in Aden, a port along the Arabian Sea, but for some reason he did not maintain correspondence with Merwan. Within a year after leaving India, Baily landed in serious trouble. Baily had succumbed to all the temptations available to a young man in foreign service. He had been living luxuriously, as if he were a high-ranking and important officer (which he was not), and his salary could not keep up with his extravagant lifestyle. Baily developed a serious drinking problem, frequented brothels and found himself struggling with pressing debts.
To escape his creditors, Baily applied for a leave of one month, which was granted. However, the officer who was to take his post committed suicide and Baily's leave was canceled. In the meantime, a junior officer filed a complaint to headquarters. Baily, in an inebriated state, insulted and behaved rudely with his commanding officer, who filed charges against Baily for drunk and disorderly conduct. At the trial, he was found guilty, court-martialed, stripped of rank and jailed. The judge sentenced him to two years in prison but for some reason, the general in charge had it reduced by six months. After serving his sentence in prison, Baily was dishonorably discharged from the navy and in 1919 returned to Poona.
Baily was a disgrace to his family. Gradually, during the course of several weeks, every former friend came to know of his jail term and none wished to be associated with a convicted criminal.