Mumbai: In a hit-and-run incident early on Sunday, eerily reminiscent of the Pune Porsche incident in May, a 24-year-old man speeding in his luxury car rammed into a scooter at Worli, injuring the driver and dragging the woman pillion rider for nearly 1.5 kilometres, killing her in the process.
The man allegedly driving the car, Mihir Shah, is absconding, and police have detained his father Rajesh Shah, and the family driver Rajrishi Bidawat, who was accompanying the accused.
Preliminary inquiries have found that Bidawat was in the front passenger seat when the accident occurred. Mihir’s father Rajesh Shah owns a construction business and is a deputy leader in the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), Palghar. Mihir, who has completed his SSC, assists his father in the family business.
About The Accident
Around 5.30 am, Pradeep and Kaveri Nakhwa, fish sellers from Worli village, were returning home on the two-wheeler after purchasing fish from Sassoon Dock, Colaba. When their scooter was hit by the car, Kaveri, 45, fell on the road, with her saree getting caught in the car’s front wheel, while Pradeep, 50, landed on the car’s bonnet. Pradeep told the police that he noticed that Kaveri’s saree had become entangled with the car wheel and yelled at Mihir to stop, but the accused paid no heed.
Pradeep said he jumped off the bonnet of the moving car and got on his feet and tried to chase it but was hampered by his injured leg. He then got into a taxi and followed the car for 1.5 kilometres but when he was unable to find his wife, he asked the taxi driver to turn around and headed to Worli police station. Kaveri’s mangled body, which had eventually been disentangled from the wheels, was found near Worli Sea Face.
Statement Of An Eyewitness
An eyewitness who saw her body alerted the police. At the Worli police station, Pradeep was inconsolable.
“My wife and I were going home, I was driving at 30kmph, when suddenly, a car hit us from behind. She was dragged as far as the Sea Link, by which time there was no clothing left on her body. I asked him to stop, but he did not. Had he stopped the car, my wife would have been saved,” he cried.
“Now, will my wife come back? The whole world is on the side of the big people. Who is behind the poor?” he lamented.
When the media asked Pradeep if he had seen who was driving the car, he said it was the owner of the car (the 24-year-old) who was behind the wheel and there was a person seated next to him. The abandoned BMW was found near Kalanagar, Bandra.
Police said that the duo in the car parted ways at that point, with the driver heading to Borivli to inform Mihir’s father about the accident. Mihir’s whereabouts are still unknown. According to news portals, According to police, Mihir went to his girlfriend's house before absconding. The police have questioned her in the matter.
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According to police, Shah, along with the driver, had set off from the former’s residence in Borivli around 11.30pm, for a long drive. Both went to a bar located on Juhu Tara Road and ran up a tab of nearly Rs 18,000. Later, the two decided to proceed to Marine Drive. As they were returning, Mihir told the driver that he would take the wheel. As they headed towards Worli Sea Link, Mihir hit the scooter on which the Nakhwas were going home.
Statement Of DCP Zone 3 Krishnakant Upadhyay
“We had received information that Kaveri Nakhwa had met with an accident and she was taken to Nair Hospital and the doctors had declared her brought dead. We recorded Pradeep Nakhwa’s statement and registered an FIR against Mihir Shah and Rajrishi, the driver. We have detained Rajrishi and Mihir Shah’s father Rajesh Shah in this matter,” said DCP Zone 3 Krishnakant Upadhyay.
Accused Booked Under Various Sections Of The Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita
Mihir Shah and Rajrishi Bidawat, 31, have been booked under sections 105(Culpable Homicide not amounting to murder), 281 (Rash Driving), 125 (an act endangering human life), 238 (Causing disappearance of evidence) and 324 (whoever commits mischief and thereby causes damage) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
An unknown person called the police around 5.50 am and they reached the spot in five minutes, recovered the body, and rushed to Nair Hospital, where she was declared brought dead. The accused reportedly switched off his phone on reaching Kalanagar and was unreachable, since then.
