Mihir Shah, the main accused in the BMW hit-and-run case and son of a Shiv Sena politician, has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days. A woman, Kaveri Nakhwa (45), was killed and her husband Pradip injured after their two-wheeler was hit from the rear by the BMW allegedly driven by Shah at 5:30 am on July 7 in Worli's arterial Anni Besant Road. Shah evaded the police for three days until he was tracked down to an apartment in Virar, around 65 km from Mumbai. The police traced him when one of his friends turned on his phone for 15 minutes. The mobile phone location of a friend of Mihir Shah led the police to him.
On July 10, Shah was sent to seven-day police custody. "He has not given any information about whom did he meet, where all did he go after the crime. He threw away the number plate. There's no information on why he cut his hair," the police told a court as Shah's custody ended today.
The public prosecutor had sought an extension of the police custody to find out "who all harboured him (when he went missing after the accident), he hasn't talked about it".
The 24-year-old shaved his beard and cut his hair to evade arrest, the police earlier told the court.
"The investigation is still on. We need to know who gave him the car and shelter after the accident. For that we need an extension of the police custody," they said.
Mihir Shah had fled the scene after allegedly running over the woman with his luxury car. The police had been searching for Shah and his family members (who also went missing after the car number) using their car numbers. The phone number of Mihir's friend was also under surveillance.
The defence side requested the court to send Mihir Shah to judicial custody as in the "seven days, the police recorded the statements of the family and the driver and their statements align."
"In the remand report, it is stated that they have recovered clothes, recorded 27 statements and found the beer cans," said the defence lawyer.
During the police interrogation following his arrest, Shah allegedly admitted that he was a habitual drinker. Yesterday, the license of a Mumbai bar from where the hit-and-run main accused Shah bought four bottles of beer before hitting the couple was temporarily suspended over alleged violations.
"We are hearing that they want to see the number plate - what will it show? They stated that the number plate from the front plate is missing - they have the number of the vehicle," he added.
The police stressed that the "number plate was an important evidence and we need to recollect". "We have still not found out the reason for the change in appearance," the public prosecutor told the court.
Mihir Shah, his father Rajesh Shah, a Shiv Sena politician from Palghar district, and their family chauffeur Rajrishi Bidawat have been named as accused in the high-profile case.
The woman was dragged for nearly 1.5 kilometres after the crash. Afterwards, Shah and Bidawat exchanged seats and mowed her down again while reversing the car, police said.
According to the police, Bidawat swapped driver's seat with Mihir Shah allegedly at the instruction of Rajesh Shah who allegedly helped his son flee the scene.
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