In a new development in the Mumbai BMW hit-and-run case, Mumbai police on Tuesday told the local court that the accused Mihir Shah (24), who was allegedly driving the car, switched seats with his driver after dragging the woman for about 1.5 km after hitting her.
The driver Rajrishi Rajendrasingh Bidawat then reversed the BMW and mowed down the woman for the second time.
Mihir, the son of Rajesh Shah, who is the Palghar Unit Deputy leader of Shiv Sena (Shinde faction), is on the run.
Mumbai Police said that Rajesh had instructed his son to escape from the spot after the incident.
He had also instructed the driver to take responsibility for the incident. The police also produced in court a CCTV footage, which showed the victim Kaveri being dragged by the car for 1.5 km.
The footage showed Mihir and the driver pulling the woman off the bonnet, placing her on the road and then mowing her down again while reversing the BMW.
After the accident, the accused drove towards the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, abandoned the car near Kala Nagar in Bandra and fled.
During the remand hearing, police said that Rajesh knows the whereabouts of his son and, therefore, needs to be interrogated.
The defence, represented by advocate Sudhir Bhardwaj, said that the charge of culpable homicide is not applicable on Rajesh since he was not driving the car, nor he was present at the spot.
He also said the custody of Rajrishi was not required since nothing was recovered from him. After Rajesh was remanded in judicial custody, his lawyer applied for bail, which was allowed by the court.
Meanwhile, the police have formed several teams to arrest Mihir and a Look Out Circular (LOC) has also been put out to prevent the main accused from fleeing the country.
An official said, "He (Mihir) went to the residence of his female friend and has been untraceable since. He switched off his mobile phone in Borivali area. Considering the possibility of him fleeing Maharashtra, police teams have been sent to nearby states, including Gujarat."
Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena head Eknath Shinde asserted that 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.
In a statement, Shinde said that he has asked the police to handle hit-and -run incidents involving powerful and influential people with seriousness and ensure justice is served.
"It is intolerable that the powerful and influential misuse their status to manipulate the system. Such miscarriages of justice will not be tolerated by my government," Shinde said.
“The lives of ordinary citizens are precious to us. I have directed the state police department to handle these cases with the utmost seriousness and ensure justice is served. We are implementing stricter laws with harsher penalties for hit-and-run offenders," Shinde added.
Kaveri Nakhwa (45) died in the accident and her husband, Pradik Nakhwa (50) was injured when a BMW car being driven by Mihir rammed into their two-wheeler in the early hours of Sunday.
The accident took place around 5.30 am between Atria Mall and Worli along the Mumbai Coastal Road when the couple were on way to the Sassoon Dock in Colaba to purchase fish stock for selling it in the local market.
Accompanied by his driver Rajrishi, Mihir at the time of the accident was allegedly driving the BMW in a drunken state.
According to police sources, Mihir was at a bar with some friends in Juhu and then left for home. On the way, he insisted that he would drive and took the wheels from the driver.
Rajesh and Rajrishi had been booked under Sections, including 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and were brought to Worli Police station after the incident.
(With PTI inputs)