The Mumbai Police arrested Mihir Shah, the main accused in the Worli hit-and-run case from Virar in Palghar district on Tuesday.
On July 7, Mr. Shah, allegedly under the influence of alcohol, hit a two-wheeler with his luxury car killing the pillion rider, Kaveri Nakhawa, and injuring her husband Pradeep Nakhawa.
The Mumbai Police confirmed Mr. Shah’s arrest from the Virar Phata area on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway. Police has brought him to the Worli police station where the case was registered.
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The accused’s father, Rajesh Shah, is a leader of the Shiv Sena in Palghar district. Mr. Rajesh was arrested on Sunday and released on bail on Monday. Rajrishi Bidawat, the family’s driver, who was sitting next to Mr. Shah when the accident happened, is in police custody.
Apart from Mr. Shah, his mother and two sisters were detained from the neighbouring Thane district, the home turf of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader and former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said arresting Mr. Shah two days after the incident will weaken the drunk driving case against him.
“Mihir Shah was arrested after two days. Everyone knows that he was sitting in a bar and consuming alcohol, after which he ran over the woman with his car. Now, if they take his blood sample for an alcohol test, it will be negative. This would benefit him in the court as only negligence in driving charge will be applicable,” Mr. Deshmukh said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) youth leader and former Minister Aaditya Thackeray questioned how, despite the availability of surveillance cameras and intelligence network, the government failed to arrest Mr. Shah promptly. Mr. Thackeray asked if political pressure was put to delay the arrest. Hitting out at Mr. Shinde, he wrote on X that the Chief Minister “must stop the grandstanding” on his concern, and directives to police are an eyewash to divert attention from the hit-and-run case.
In another development, the State’s Excise Department sealed Vice Global Tapas Bar in Juhu and questioned the owner and staff. Mr. Shah was at the bar with his friends on Saturday night and CCTV camera footage showed him exiting it. In Maharashtra, the legal age to consume alcohol is 25. Police records show Mr. Shah is 23.
On July 7, the car, owned by Mr. Rajesh, hit the two-wheeler in Worli area. While Mr. Nakhawa fell on the road, his wife landed on the car’s bonnet before being dragged for a distance. Mr. Shah and his driver Mr. Bidawat abandoned the car a few kilometres away and fled.
On Sunday, the Mumbai Police had issued a Look Out Circular and had formed six teams to trace the main accused. The police booked Mr. Shah for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rash driving, endangering life and safety of others, causing disappearance of evidence or giving false information and causing damage of over ₹20,000 through mischief under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Under the Motor Vehicles Act, 2019, charges of over speeding causing danger to lives on the road, not providing medical attention to the injured, not bringing the incident to police’s notice and refusing to cooperate with the police have been slapped.
