BMC demolishes Juhu bar where BMW hit-and-run case accused Mihir Shah drank liquor

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday conducted a demolition drive at the bar in Mumbai's Juhu Tara Road, which had allegedly served liquor to Mihir Shah, the accused in the Mumbai BMW hit-and-run case and son of Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah.

The establishment - Vice-Global Tapas Bar - against which the action is being taken is located in the Juhu suburb.

This comes after the Mumbai Police on Tuesday searched the place and sealed it. According to the police, Shah and his friends had visited the bar on Saturday night, hours before he allegedly took the wheel of his BMW car and crashed it into a scooter in Mumbai’s Worli, injuring the rider Pradeep Nakhawa, 50, and killing his wife Kaveri, 45, who was riding pillion.

Shah was arrested on Tuesday from Virar in Mumbai, two days after he absconded and kept evading the police.

What happened, and how was Mihir Shah arrested?

On Saturday night, Shah partied with his friends at a bar in Juhu and then left with his driver for South Mumbai during the early hours of Sunday. According to the police, he was spotted in the Marine Drive area around 4:30 pm, driving his luxury car, while his driver, identified as Rajrushi Bidawat, was sitting next to him.

As the vehicle reached Worli, the car hit the two-wheeler, killing Kaveri Nakhwa, and injuring her husband.

Following the incident, Shah fled the scene in an auto rickshaw, leaving his car and his driver behind. According to the police, he first reached his woman friend's residence in Goregaon.

The friend called Shah's sister at her place, who took both Mihir and her brother to her Borivali residence. Following this, the Shah family fleed to a resort at Shahapur in Thane district.

Shortly after this development, the Mumbai Police tracked one of Shah's friend's mobile number, who was accompanying him, but the phone was switched off. However, on Tuesday evening, the friend switched on his phone for 15 minutes - during which the police tracked Mihir and arrested him.

Victim's family on Shah's arrest

The victim's family raised apprehensions that traces of alcohol would not appear in the accused's blood because of the delay in arrest.

“He was arrested after 3 days, what does this mean? If he wasn't alcoholic, if he hadn't taken drugs, then why did he go into hiding?... Why was he absconding for three days? You abandoned the vehicle on the way and broke the number plate before running away...now after 3 days, there won't be any traces of alcohol in his body and he will have 20 lawyers with him,” Pradeep Nakhwa said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde has removed Mihir's father Rajesh Shah as the deputy leader of the Shiv Sena.