Mumbai:

The 23-year-old accused in the Mumbai BMW hit-and-run case was made to sit face-to-face with his driver as the police interrogated both men today. Mihir Shah, who drove the BMW that hit a two-wheeler and killed a woman, had changed seats with his driver following the accident.

The police also recreated the sequence of events at the accident site today.

Mr Shah and his driver, Rajrishi Bidawat, claimed they did not know the woman was stuck under the car as they drove away after hitting the two wheeler.

Police sources said the two men “admitted to their mistake”, and Mr Shah told them he “regretted his actions”.

Kaveri Nakva and her husband Pradik Nakva were on a two-wheeler when the BMW driven by Mr Shah, the son of sacked Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah, rammed the scooter and sped away.

Mr Shah was returning from a pub when the BMW that he drove hit the couple’s two-wheeler. He also faces allegations made by the pub management that he gave them a fake identity card that showed him as 27 years old, while he is 23, per official records. The minimum drinking age is 25.

The police have said many CCTV footage have captured the speeding BMW dragging the woman stuck on the bonnet. Mr Shah stopped the car after dragging Ms Nakva for 1.5 km, and then exchanged seats with his driver.

He removed the woman’s body from underneath the engine bay and the bumper, and left the body on the road. His driver then reversed the BMW and ran over the woman’s body before the car disappeared from CCTV view.

Police sources said they suspect Mr Shah was aware that the woman was stuck under the car, but he drove on and did not stop, despite some motorists frantically signalling and shouting at him to stop.

Mr Shah was arrested in Thane district yesterday, after he evaded the police for two days.

Mumbai:

In yet another case of hit-and-run in Maharashtra, a woman was killed by a speeding car in Nashik on Tuesday. She was flung in the air and was thrown about 15-20 metres after the white-colour hatchback hit her from the back, the chilling footage caught on a nearby CCTV camera showed.

The driver ran away after the accident, which occurred in the Gangapur area around 5 pm.

Two men standing on the same side of the road can be seen rushing towards the woman after the horrific crash. She was taken to a hospital but succumbed to her injuries.

The police have taken two persons in custody.

The incident comes three days after a speeding BMW hit a couple on a two-wheeler in Mumbai’s Worli, resulting in the death of a 45-year-old woman. The woman, identified as Kaveri Nakhwa, was returning home with her husband, Pradip, after reportedly shopping for fish to cook.

The man behind the wheels was Mihir Shah, the son of politician Rajesh Shah, a member of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction.

She was dragged for 1.5 km after the collision before the BMW was stopped. The police said the CCTV footage indicates Shah then exchanged seats with his driver, pulled the woman’s body out from under the car, and left it on the road. The car was then driven away.

He has been arrested along with his father and the driver.

Mumbai:

The Mumbai police on Monday found itself in a spot with the application of a provision of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in the BMW-hit-and-run incident, among the first high-profile cases under the newly-introduced law that replaced the British-era Indian Penal Code.

A woman was killed and her husband injured in Worli early Sunday morning after their two-wheeler was hit from the rear by a BMW, which was being allegedly driven by the son of Palghar Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah.

Shah, his absconding son and main accused Mihir Shah as well as their family driver Rajrishi Bidawat were charged under provisions of BNS, including sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 238 (destruction of evidence).

During the remand hearing of Rajesh Shah earlier in the day, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SP Bhosale, among other queries, posed questions to the investigating officer on the rationale behind applying section 105 of the new law.

When the IO and other police personnel started fumbling with answers, the magistrate passed a copy of the BNS and asked them to go through the section in question.

The court then asked the prosecution to take a five-minute break and answer its queries.

However, even after the break, the police could not come up with a concrete response to the magistrate’s queries. The court was adjourned again, but with the magistrate’s remarks that the police ought to do their “homework” and come prepared.

Fifteen minutes later, the prosecution submitted a handwritten note terming it as additional remand, which the court took on record and the hearing resumed.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Sewree) SP Bhosale remanded Rajesh Shah in 14-day judicial custody and sent Bidawat to one-day police custody.

Rajesh Shah was remanded in judicial custody after the court observed that Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) did not apply to him.

The defence, represented by advocate Sudhir Bhardwaj said the charge of culpable homicide was not applicable on Rajesh Shah since he was not driving the car nor was he present at the spot.

Rajesh Shah was later granted bail.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)