Chilling details have emerged in the Mumbai BMW hit-and-run case after police reviewed CCTV footage of the accident that killed a woman on Sunday morning.
The BMW driven by the 24-year-old son of a political party leader dragged a woman for 1.5km after hitting her, police told a local court on Tuesday.
Ms Kaveri Nakva, 45, and her husband Pradeep, 50, were on a two-wheeler when the BMW allegedly driven by Mihir Shah, the son of Shiv Sena (Eknatrh Shinde faction) leader Rajesh Shah from Palghar district, rammed the scooter and sped away.
Rajesh was detained on Monday, while his son, who hid for three days, was arrested on Tuesday, reported NDTV.
Police said CCTV footage taken from various locations the BMW passed through showed Mihir stopping the car after dragging Ms Kaveri for 1.5km and then exchanging seats with his driver Rajrishi Bidawat.
Mihir removed the woman’s body from underneath the engine bay and bumper and left it on the road, police told the court when asked why they applied the “culpable homicide” charge.
The driver then reversed the BMW and ran over the woman before the car disappeared from CCTV view, police added.
The driver was “well aware of his actions and helped the other accused”, which justified the culpable homicide charge, police said in court.
The Mumbai accident has parallels to the Porsche hit-and-run case in Pune in May, when two software engineers riding a two-wheeler were killed. The accused’s influential family in the Pune case allegedly tried to tamper with evidence and mislead the police.
Mumbai police formed 11 teams and deployed the Crime Branch to arrest Mihir. Police said that, after the accident, Mihir and Rajrishi took the BMW to Bandra and abandoned it. Mihir then took another car and sped towards Borivali in the northern tip of the city.
“He went to the house of his female friend and then went untraceable. He switched off his mobile phone in Borivali,” a police officer said.
Police later found out that Mihir called his father and told him about the accident. Rajesh asked his son to leave the city and said Rajrishi would take the blame for the incident.
Mihir then called his girlfriend and reached her home in Goregaon in an autorickshaw. The accused then slept at his girlfriend’s home for two hours after telling her about the accident and the death of the woman. She then called his elder sister Pooja, who is also her business partner.
Pooja went to the Goregaon home and took Mihir back to their Borivali residence, reported India Today, quoting a police source.
From there, Mihir, Pooja, younger sister Kinjal, mother Meena and a friend Avdeep left in two cars for Yeoor Hills Resort in Thane West. After some hours, they left for another resort in Murbad.
On Monday evening, Mihir and his friend Avdeep left for a resort in Virar.
On Tuesday morning, Avdeep, who was also on the radar of the police, switched on his mobile phone for 15 minutes. This helped police track him, and ultimately Mihir, at the resort in Virar.
An officer told the court that Mihir shaved his beard and cut his hair to evade arrest.
Investigators said Mihir partied with four friends in a bar in Juhu till the early hours of Sunday, after which he and his driver travelled towards south Mumbai. The police have found the bar bill of Rs18,000 ($290).
Sources told NDTV that Mihir admitted to the police that he was driving the luxury car when it hit the couple on the bike. But he claimed that he wasn’t drunk.
His father Rajesh reportedly went to the accident site at 6.45am on Sunday, a little over an hour after the hit-and-run took place.
The dead women’s husband, who was riding the bike, complained to police that Rajesh was trying to destroy evidence.
The politician has been charged for allegedly giving misinformation and destroying evidence, police said. He was later suspended by the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction).
The victim’s family have raised apprehensions that traces of alcohol would not appear in Mihir’s blood because of the delay in arrest.
“He was arrested after three days, what does this mean? If he wasn’t drunk, if he hadn’t taken drugs, then why did he go into hiding?” the victim’s husband Pradeep said.
“You abandoned the vehicle on the way and broke the number plate before running away. After three days, there won’t be any traces of alcohol in his body, and he will have 20 lawyers with him.”
Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde said no one would be spared in the case.
“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,” he said.
