Bombay High Court Junks Worli BMW Hit-And-Run Accused's Plea For Release

The Bombay High Court has rejected a plea by Mihir Shah, the accused in the BMW Worli hit-and-run case from July this year, to be released immediately. Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande dismissed a plea by Shah and his driver to consider their arrest "illegal".

Mihir Shah is the son of politician Rajesh Shah, who was a member of outgoing Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena. Rajesh Shah was sacked by the party four days later.

Mihir Shah was arrested July 9, two days after he allegedly rammed his BMW into a bike in Mumbai's Worli, killing Kaveri Nakhwa and leaving her husband Pradeep injured. Ms Nakhwa's body was caught on the car and dragged for over 1.5 km before the driver halted the car.

The driver, Rajrishi Bindawat, was also in the car at the time. He was arrested within hours, while Shah fled and was only arrested days later, after a public outcry. He was tracked down to an apartment in Virar, which is around 65 km from Mumbai, and taken to the Worli Police Station.

Shah was under the influence of alcohol at the time, police have claimed.

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At least 10 others were also arrested, including Shah's mother and two sisters.

In their respective habeas corpus petitions, filed in August, Shah and Bindawat had argued their detention was, and is, "illegal" and that they must be released immediately. They had argued the police failed to follow due process as outlined in Section 50 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The core claim was that the police did not inform them of grounds for the arrest.

Under Section 50, the police, when arresting a person, have to communicate to him, or her, the full particulars of the offence for which they are being arrested or other grounds for such arrest.

According to legal news website Bar and Bench, the court, however, asked if it was necessary to do so, given that they were caught "red-handed". In addition, the public prosecutor also pointed out the two accused were, and remain, fully aware of the charges brought against them.

Mr Shinde, who has led his Sena faction, which is allied with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Nationalist Congress Party group of Ajit Pawar, to a thumping win in last week's Maharashtra Assembly election, had expressed alarm at the "rise in hit-and-run incidents" in the state.

He said that the powerful and influential attempt to misuse their status to manipulate the system and such abuse of power will not be tolerated by his government

"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 of the State. I have zero tolerance for injustice," Shinde said in a post on X.