In hit-and-run with BMW, police must react to the confession of the accused Mihir Shah

Mihir Shah applied for his arrest to be declared unlawful.

Mumbai:

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought a response from the police on the appeals of Mihir Shah, the main accused in the BMW hit-and-run case, and his driver Rajrishi Bidawat. The accused are demanding their immediate release and claiming that their arrest was “illegal”.

Shah was arrested on July 9, two days after he allegedly drove his BMW into a two-wheeler in Mumbai's Worli district, killing Kaveri Nakhwa (45) and injuring her husband Pradeep.

His driver, Bidawat, who was also in the car at the time of the accident, was arrested on the day of the alleged accident.

Both are currently in custody.

In their habeas corpus petitions filed before the Supreme Court last week, Shah and Bidawat claimed their detention was illegal and they should be released immediately.

Both cases were heard on Wednesday before a panel of judges comprising Bharati Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande.

The court asked the police to file an affidavit and scheduled the case for hearing on August 29.

In his plea, Shah demanded that a local court's orders to remand him in police custody and then remand him in custody be set aside.

Shah demanded his release on the grounds that any further detention would be a blatant violation of the Constitution and a violation of Section 50 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

This section requires the police to inform a person, when they arrest him or her, of all the details of the offence for which he or she is being arrested or any other reason for the arrest.

Shah applied for his arrest to be declared unlawful.

Shah (24) is accused of driving away at high speed towards Bandra Worli Sea Link after the accident, even though the woman remained sitting on the hood of the car and then became entangled in the car's wheels for a distance of more than 1.5 kilometers.

Shah, who fled the scene, was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the incident, police said.

Shah, his father and former Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah and their driver Rajrishi Bidawat were arrested in the case.

While Rajesh Shah has been released on bail, Mihir Shah and Bidawat are currently in judicial custody.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)