Mumbai: Four days after the sensational Worli BMW hit-and-run incident, prime accused Mihir Shah on Wednesday confessed to being at the wheel when the accident took place as a court sent him to police custody for seven days.
Mihir Shah (24), who was hiding in the Mumbai and the Palghar-Thane-Raigad belt, was arrested from the Virar suburbs of the city on Tuesday.
In the wee hours of Sunday, Mihir Shah, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, hit the two-wheeler of a couple of the fisherfolk community and later fled the scene along with family driver Rajrishi Bidawat.
The collision resulted in the death of Kaveri Nakhwa (45), who was riding pillion, while her husband Pradeep Nakhwa (50) survived with injuries.
The Worli police station produced Mihir Shah before chief metropolitan magistrate S P Bhosale who remanded him to police custody till July 16.
Among other sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Motor Vehicles Act, Mihir Shah faces the stringent culpable homicide charge which can attract strict punishment.
On Monday, Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah, father of the accused and owner of the car, was granted 15 days' judicial custody. However, he was granted bail, while driver Bidawat was granted a day’s police custody. On Tuesday, Bidawat was sent to police custody till Thursday.
During the hearing, the police told the court that the crime was “cruel and heartless” and sought for maximum custody so as to investigate and find out who all had helped him to hide during the three days.
It is yet to be found whether the accused possesses a car driving license, the court was informed.
Govt tried to cover up: Oppn
Meanwhile, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi accused the Eknath Shinde-led Maha Yuti government of trying to cover up the incident. “The govt and the police have tried to hush up the issue. The accused was intentionally not arrested (in time) as he was drunk and it would have come out in a blood sample. I'll say that the police had hidden him. When they tested him twice and alcohol wasn't found in the blood sample, then only he was produced before the police,” leader of the opposition in the Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar said and demanded a high-level probe into the matter.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray said that the incident should be treated as murder. “It is not hit-and-run but murder,” he said after visiting the Nakhwa family. The accused Mihir Shah must be severely punished in this case. Will the bulldozer roll over his house?,” he asked.
Bulldozer action at bar
The Vice-Global Tapas Bar at Juhu, where Mihir Shah and his friends allegedly partied before the incident, faced action from the authorities. A day after the Excise department sealed it, it was the turn of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation to raze the illegal structures of the joint.