Porni Banerjee | ১১ জুলাই ২০২৪ ১৩ : ৪৫Porni Banerjee

Mihir Shah, the prime accused in the BMW hit-and-run crash case, had called his girlfriend at least 40 times after his luxury sedan rammed into a two-wheeler killing a 45-year-old woman and injuring her husband. The incident took place in Mumbai’s Worli area on July 7 at 5:30 am.

When he was on the run before his arrest, Mihir Shah travelled to various places across Maharashtra and hid in resorts while the police were trying to get hold of him after the mishap.

When his girlfriend came to know about the incident, she immediately called Mihir’s sister Pooja, who received him from Goregaon and brought him back to their residence at Borivali.

After reaching home, Mihir, along with three of his family members and his friend Avdeep went to a resort in Thane and then again switched to another resort in Murbad after a couple of hours.

The group then went to Shahapur on Monday, following which he and his friend Avdeep left for a resort at Virar on the same evening. Before reaching Virar, Mihir Shah also went to Igatpuri, Nashik, Ganeshpuri and Thane.

After a 72-hour statewide manhunt, it was from Virar that Mihir Shah was arrested on Tuesday. His friend Avdeep switched on his phone for 15 minutes when the police tracked his location to Virar.

After his arrest, prosecutors reported on Thursday that Mihir Shah was not cooperating with them during interrogation and is providing misleading information. Even the statements of his driver Rajrishi Bidawat, who was also involved in the accident, did not match during in-person questioning.

Police are now trying to recover Mihir Shah’s 12 mobile phones that he had hidden somewhere and also the number plate of his BMW.

Meanwhile, the excise department officials on Thursday morning revealed that Shah and his two other friends had consumed 12 large pegs of whiskey at Vice-Global Tapas Bar in Mumbai’s Juhu on the day his BMW crashed the scooter.

His luxury sedan rammed onto the two-wheeler when he was in a highly intoxicated state, killing Kaveri Nakhwa (45), who was riding pillion, while injuring her husband Pradeep. However, Mihir confessed that he was driving at the time of the accident but asserted he was not drunk.

Following the incident, his father, Rajesh Shah, who is the leader of Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, was expunged as the deputy leader from the party. On Wednesday, Mohir Shah was sent to police custody till July 16.