Mihir Shah, the main accused in the Mumbai BMW hit-and-run case, has admitted that he was driving the luxury car when it hit a couple on their bike on Sunday, killing the woman, say police sources. However, he has claimed he wasn't drunk, they add.
Mihir Shah, arrested yesterday, told the police during his interrogation that he had exchanged seats with his driver Rajrishi Bidawat and took over the wheel before it rammed into a the two-wheeler at 5.30 am on Sunday.
The 24-year-old is the son of politician Rajesh Shah, a member of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction. A dozen people are in custody, including Mr Shah's parents and two sisters.
The woman killed in the crash was Kaveri Nakhwa, a 45-year-old mother of two. She was with her husband Pradip Nakhwa, who suffered injuries. The two were out shopping for fish.
Mihir Shah evaded the police for three days until he was tracked down to an apartment in Virar, which is around 65 km from Mumbai. The police traced him when one of his friends turned on his phone for 15 minutes.
Mihir Shah allegedly drove the BMW after partying with four friends for hours at a Juhu bar.
CCTV footage indicates Ms Nakhwa was dragged for 1.5 km after the collision before the BMW was stopped. The police said the footage also showed that Mr Shah then again switched seats with Mr Bidawat, pulled the woman's body out from under the car, and left it on the road before driving away.
The Mumbai accident has parallels to the Pune Porsche hit-and-run case when two software engineers riding a two-wheeler were killed by an underage driver.
