Worli BMW hit-and-run case: Accused Mihir Shah consumed excessive amount of alcohol on night of incident

Mihir Shah, the main accused in the Worli hit-and-run case, is being produced before the Sewri court, in Mumbai on July 10.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The main accused in the Worli hit-and-run case, Mihir Shah had consumed an excessive amount of alcohol at two different places on the night of the incident, said Mumbai police sources on July 11.

According to the Mumbai police, “During the investigation, it was found that the arrested accused Mihir Shah consumed alcohol before the incidents. He consumed alcohol at two different places on the night of the incident.”

“The probe revealed that after drinking alcohol at Vice Global Tapas Bar located in the Juhu area, accused Mihir Shah drank alcohol at another place between Malad and Borivali,” the police said.

“The interrogation with Rajrishi Rajendra Singh Bidawat, accused driver, also revealed that these people had come to visit Marine Drive since the day of the incident fell on a Sunday,” said police.

Police also said that the accused driver Rajrishi Rajendra Singh had taken the car from Borivali to Marine Drive, but once they reached there, Mihir Shah had forcefully taken the car keys from the driver to drive the car near Girgaon Chowpatty.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day both accused in the Worli hit-and-run case reportedly confessed to their roles in the crime and are in the custody of the Mumbai police.

According to police sources, the main accused, Mihir Shah and his driver Rajrishi Bidawat, were both confronted by the police during interrogation. “Both accused confessed their roles in the crime and the police did a scene recreation from the night of the accident. With a similar sequence to the actual accident night, the scene was recreated from CJ House Worli to Sea Link Worli,” said police.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Mumbai court sent Mihir Shah to police custody until July 16. Mihir Shah was arrested in Virar on July 9. He was brought to Sewri court in Mumbai on July 10. Mihir Shah had been absconding after the car he was allegedly driving hit a scooter on Dr. Annie Besant Road in Worli on July 7.

Fourteen teams were formed by Mumbai police to nab him. Police arrested Rajrishi Singh Bidawat and Mihir’s father, Rajesh Shah, for their alleged involvement in the case.

Following the tragic incident, the deceased woman’s husband, Pradeep Nakhwa, questioned the delay in the arrest of the accused and alleged that he dragged his wife from Ceejay House to Sea Link Road. “It was due to ‘politics’ and the accused would not be arrested until the Vidhan Sabha session ends,” Mr. Nakhwa had claimed. He also alleged that the delay in the arrest was because the accused was the son of a political leader.

According to Mumbai police, the 45-year-old victim was a resident of Worli Koliwada. Her husband was riding the scooter while she was riding the pillion. The husband also sustained injuries in the incident. “The couple was returning home after buying fish when the scooter they were riding on was hit by the luxury car. Both of them sustained injuries, and the woman died during treatment,” police added. Police also said that the luxury car belonged to a leader of a political party based in Maharashtra’s Palghar.

The incident in Worli follows less than two months after the Pune case in which a luxury car allegedly driven by a 17-year-old youth, who was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, rammed into a motorcycle, resulting in the deaths of two software engineers in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area in the early hours of May 19.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed his “alarm” at the “rise in hit-and-run incidents” in the State and said that he has directed the police to take strict action against such cases, adding that the “guilty will not be spared.”

The Shiv Sena also removed Rajesh Shah, the father of the accused, from the party following his arrest.