The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (August 21, 2024) directed the Mumbai Police to file an affidavit in response to the petition filed by Mihir Shah, the main accused in the BMW hit-and-run case and co-accused, his driver Rajrishi Bidawat, who are seeking immediate release and claiming that their arrest was ‘illegal’.
They are presently in judicial custody. for killing Kaveri Nakhwa (45) and leaving her husband Pradeep Nakhwa injured while the couple were on their scooter.
A Division Bench of Justices, Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande on Wednesday issued notice to the Mumbai Police and directed the police to file an affidavit in response to the petition by the two accused and posted the matter for hearing on August 29.
In their habeas corpus (produce the person) petitions filed in the High Court on August 19, the accused have claimed that their detention was illegal and that they must be released immediately.
The accused Shah in his petition seeks the High Court to quash the orders passed by the sessions court that first remanded him to police custody and later to judicial custody.
He claims that any further detention would be in utter violation of the constitutional mandate and a failure to comply with Section 50 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) as the grounds of his arrest were not communicated to him at the time of his arrest.
Mr. Shah was arrested on July 9, for allegedly hitting a couple who were on two-wheeler and killing Kaveri Nakhwa around 5.15am on July 7.
According to police, Mihir Shah has admitted hitting the couple under the influence of alcohol. He also admitted that he saw their bodies fly up in the air, dragged Kaveri Nakhwa from anywhere from 100 metres and 1.5 kilometres speeding off towards Bandra Worli Sea Link.
After committing the alleged crime, the police said that he swapped seats with the driver, took an auto-rickshaw from Kala Nagar area of Bandra East in Mumbai and went to a friend’s home in Goregaon.
Since then, he was on the run to different locations, Borivali to then in a resort in Thane.
His father, Rajesh Shah, in whose name the car was registered, was arrested by the Mumbai Police along with the driver, Rajrishi Bidawat on July 7. Rajesh Shah is the deputy leader and the Shiv Sena’s party worker from Palghar district and is known as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s close aide.
According to the Mumbai police, the father played a crucial role in destroying evidence in the case, in terms of removing the car number plate and political party sticker, as well as delaying his son’s arrest. On July 8, the court magistrate granted bail to Rajesh Shah.
Published - August 21, 2024 02:12 pm IST
