Three days after he allegedly drove a BMW while drunk and ran over a two-wheeler in Mumbai’s Worli early Sunday, killing a 45-year-old woman and injuring her husband, Mihir Shah remains untraceable.
The police – who have interrogated more than dozen people so far, including his partner – have formed multiple task forces to track him down. The cops believe he – the son of politician Rajesh Shah, a member of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction – is hiding with other family members, including mother and sister. Known mobile phones of all family, and close relatives, are switched off.
The father, who was arrested Sunday, received bail within 24 hours, on payment of Rs 15,000.
READ | Sena Leader, Father Of BMW Crash Accused, Gets Bail
The only accused still in jail is Rajrishi Bidawat – the driver who was allegedly forced to give control of the luxury vehicle to Shah, hours after he spent nearly Rs 20,000 at a bar. Bidawat may also have been ordered, by Rajesh Shah, to pretend to have been driving when the car hit the two-wheeler.
Worli BMW Crash: What Happened?
Police sources have revealed a rough sequence of events to NDTV.
According to the cops, on Sunday Mihir Shah left home for a party at the Vice – Global Tapas Bar in Juhu. At that time he was driving a Mercedes registered to his father. Four friends accompanied him.
The five partied at the bar till 11 pm; NDTV has seen a copy of the Rs 18,730 bill.
READ | Hours Before BMW Crash, Sena Leader’s Son Was At A Bar, Bill Emerges
At 1.15 am (on Monday) Mihir Shah drove his friends – in the Mercedes – back home.
READ | CCTV Footage Shows Sena Leader’s Son In Mercedes Before BMW Crash
At 4 am he told Bidawat to take him for a ‘joy ride’ on Marine Drive in the BMW.
At 5 am, after driving up and down Marine Drive, the car was turned home.
Police believe it was at this time Shah swapped seats with Bidawat.
If true, this means Shah was driving the car when it hit the bike at 5.30 am.
The woman who was killed has been identified as Kaveri Nakhwa, 45. She was travelling with her husband, Pradip, and the two were reportedly shopping for fish to cook.
Woman Dragged For 1.5 Kilometres
Horrific details have emerged of the crash, including CCTV footage that indicates Ms Nakhwa was dragged for 1.5 km after the collision before the BMW was stopped.
The police said the footage also indicated Shah then exchanged seats with Bidawat, pulled the woman’s body out from under the car, and left it on the road. The car was then driven away.
READ | In Mumbai BMW Case, Woman Dragged For 1.5 Km, Run Over Twice
But, in an even more horrific turn of events, the driver reportedly reversed the car to run over her body one more time before speeding off and out of the CCTV’s field of vision, the police said.
Bidawat was, therefore, “aware of his actions and helped the other accused”, the police told a court that questioned the culpable homicide charge against the driver.
READ | In Worli Hit-And-Run, Phone Calls Made To Accused By Father
‘Cover Up’ After Worli BMW Crash
The cops Mihir Shah then had multiple phone calls with his father to concoct an escape plan. He was ordered to leave the car and take an auto-rickshaw to his partner’s home in Goregaon.
He was picked up from there hours later by an unknown person.
Meanwhile, Rajesh Shah and the driver allegedly drove the BMW to Kalanagar, where they scrapped off the Shiv Sena sticker from the windshield and tried to hide the car.
They were, however, arrested by cops from the Worli Police Station.
READ | In Sena Leader And Mumbai BMW Crash, A Porsche Case Parallel
The Mumbai accident has parallels to the Pune Porsche hit-and-run case when two software engineers riding a two-wheeler were killed. The accused’s influential family in the Pune case allegedly tried to tamper evidence and mislead the police.
“No One Will Have Immunity”: Chief Minister
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed alarm at the “rise in hit-and-run incidents in Maharashtra.” He said that the powerful and influential attempt to misuse their status to manipulate the system and such abuse of power will not be tolerated by his government
He also said the guilty will not be spared.
“No one, whether rich, influential, or the offspring of bureaucrats or ministers, affiliated with any party, will have immunity as long as I am the Chief Minister of the State. I have zero tolerance for injustice,” Shinde said in a post on X.
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