BMW hit-and-run case: Mumbai Court sends accused driver to jail for 14 days

Mumbai: A Mumbai Court on Thursday sent Shiv Sena politician Rajesh Shah’s family chauffeur, an accused in the fatal BMW hit-and-run case, to 14-day judicial custody.

Police told the court that Rajesh Shah’s son and prime accused Mihir Shah had picked up four beer cans from a bar in suburban Malad hours before the accident and they needed the driver’s custody to recover the cans. According to police, after the crash, Bidawat swapped driver’s seat with Mihir Shah allegedly at the instruction of Rajesh Shah, a politician from the adjoining Palghar district.

Mihir Shah, the main accused in the BMW hit-and-run case was under the influence of alcohol when he allegedly rammed his luxury car into a two-wheeler, killing a woman, a Mumbai Police official said on Thursday. A probe team of the police recreated the accident scene in the early hours of the day to get more information about the chain of events and also confronted Mihir Shah (24) with his family driver and co-accused Rajrishi Bidawat, who was in the car at the time of the horrific crash in central Mumbai’s Worli area.

The driver was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Sewree Court) S P Bhosale at the end of his police remand on Thursday.

Prima facie, police told the court, the role of the accused is made out in the case. During the remand hearing of Bidawat, police told the court that both accused had confessed to their involvement in the crime during custodial interrogation.