According to police, 23-year-old Mihir claimed that he escaped from the spot as he was fearful of the consequences and shaved off his beard and cut his hair to hide his identity.
BMW hit-and-run case | Family of Mihir Shah escaped as they were scared of being attacked, interrogatedA senior police officer claimed that the two main accused — Mihir Shah and his driver Rajrishi Bidawat — have given contradictory statements and that they need to confront them and verify through technical evidence.
AdvertisementShah was arrested from Virar on Wednesday after being on the run following the hit-and-run incident in Worli.
“As he went into hiding, he thought since we had his latest picture in which he had a fully grown beard.
Advertisement“I don’t see any reason for police to ask him for his custody as they have already recovered the car.
Day after he was arrested in the BMW hit-and-run case in Worli that claimed the life of 45-year old Kaveri Nakhwa on July 7, the Worli police investigating the case said that the main accused, Mihir Shah, son of Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah, has confessed to being behind the wheels of the car at the time of the accident.
According to police, 23-year-old Mihir claimed that he escaped from the spot as he was fearful of the consequences and shaved off his beard and cut his hair to hide his identity.
BMW hit-and-run case | Family of Mihir Shah escaped as they were scared of being attacked, interrogated
A senior police officer claimed that the two main accused — Mihir Shah and his driver Rajrishi Bidawat — have given contradictory statements and that they need to confront them and verify through technical evidence.
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Shah was arrested from Virar on Wednesday after being on the run following the hit-and-run incident in Worli. On Thursday, police produced him before court, following which he was remanded in police custody till July 16.
“As he went into hiding, he thought since we had his latest picture in which he had a fully grown beard. So to mislead us and also to evade arrest, he shaved off his beard and also got a hair cut assuming that we would not be able to recognise him,” said an officer adding, “We are trying to identify the barber as we want to record his statement as well.”
On Sunday, Mihir rammed his BMW car into a two-wheeler from behind on which Pradip Nakhwa and his wife Kaveri were travelling. Kaveri, who was dragged on for around two kilometres after being stuck between the bumper and the tyre, was killed while Pradip was injured. After Kaveri was flung off, Shah interchanged his seat with his driver Rajrishi Bidawat, police said.
Police have so far recorded statements of around 14 people, including witnesses.
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Seeking his custody, police told the court that the accused has not been cooperating with the investigation and they need to recover the number plate and also seize his mobile phone.
“We have to confront the two accused — Bidawat and Mihir, face-to-face as there is a lot of discrepancy between the facts stated by them due to which it is necessary to conduct a thorough interrogation and confront them,” read police’s remand application.
Police added that they want to identify the people who helped Mihir escape. “We also want to understand the exact locations where Mihir was hiding,” police told the court.
Defence lawyer Aayush Pasbola argued that shaving off beard and cutting his hair cannot be a ground for asking his custody and told the court that the two accused in the case have already been confronted and their stories have aligned.
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“I don’t see any reason for police to ask him for his custody as they have already recovered the car. The number plate, which they claim that they want to recover, would have fallen at the spot or it would be in the car,” the defence lawyer told the court.
The officials revealed that the accused was sent for medical examination and his blood samples have been collected.
“We have CCTV footages and sufficient evidence to show that Mihir and his friends consumed liquor at the bar in Juhu,” a senior police officer said.
Police added that the RTO has also inspected the vehicle and they are awaiting for its report. “We have taken the two accused to the spot. As per the provisions of the new law, we will recreate the sequence of the events that will help us in understanding how the incident took place,” a senior police officer said.
