New and disturbing facts keep coming to the forefront in the Mumbai BMW hit-and-run case. A 45-year-old woman was killed in the July 7 hit-and-run incident and has been identified as Kaveri Nakhwa, a resident of Worli Koliwada. The accused, Mihir Rajesh Shah, was driving drunk, and his BMW car ran over a couple riding a bike, killing the woman and injuring her husband. Here are the latest developments in the case:
1. Mihir had visited a pub in Juhu with his friends to party. According to a report in The Times of India, Mihir had consumed 12 large pegs of whiskey on the day of the accident, approximately four pegs each, excise officials said referring to the pub bill. A large amount of alcohol intake like Mihir's can keep one intoxicated for eight hours, excise officials said, the same report quoted.
2. The accident happened at around 5 am while Mihir and his friends had left the bar at 1.30 am.
3. Mihir, son of senior Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah, has admitted that whe was driving the car on July 7, when it rammed into a two-wheeler killing fisherwoman Kaveri P. Nakhwa. He has been sent to police custody till July 16.
4. The police also want to probe who is the owner of the BMW car involved in the crash, and how the deceased was dragged for almost 1.5 km on the
bonnet of the speeding vehicle before the accused stopped it. He then jumped out of the car after his driver Rajrishi Bidawat – currently in police custody till July 11 – and fled in another car, the details of which are not yet known.
5. Since that morning, Mihir R. Shah remained absconding till he was nabbed on Tuesday afternoon from Virar in Palghar) and brought to Mumbai.
6. In an exclusive interview with ANI, the victim's husband Pradeep Nakhwa said, "As we are fishermen, as part of our daily routine, on Sunday at 4 am, we were returning through the Peddar Road from the fish hatchery after buying fish. We were riding slowly at a speed of 35-40 km/hr on the side of the road. Suddenly, a car at high speed came and hit us; we didn't even realize how fast it was. We flew into the air and dropped on his car's bonnet. When he applied the brake, I fell on the left side of the road while my wife came under the wheels of his car. He didn't stop after that; I tried to stop him, but he didn't and dragged her from Ceejay House to Sea Link Road. There was smoke from the wheels when he was dragging my wife. After the incident, he fled from the spot."
7. Mihir Shah was 23 while the legal age for drinking in Maharashtra is 25. According to an NDTV report, Mihir Shah allegedly used an identity card that showed his age as 27 at the pub. The same report said that three of his friends who accompanied him to the pub were over 30 years old.
Also Read: BMW Hit-And-Run: Accused Mihir Shah In Custody Till July 16; Girlfriend May Face Detention
8. The licence of the bar in Juhu — named Vice-Global Tapas Bar — was suspended by the state excise department. It had served hard liquor to Mihir, who is not yet 25 years, which is the legal age for drinking.
9. The incident in Worli follows less than two months after the Pune case in which a luxury car allegedly driven by a 17-year-old youth, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, rammed into a motorcycle, resulting in the deaths of two software engineers in Pune's Kalyani Nagar area in the early hours of May 19.
10. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed his 'alarm' at the 'rise in hit-and-run incidents' in the state on Monday and said that he has directed the police to take strict action against such cases, adding that the 'guilty will not be spared'.
