After whiskey binge, Mihir Shah guzzled beer on Marine Drive joyride

Investigating officers of Worli police station revealed on Thursday that on the day of the accident Mihir Shah, 23, prime accused in the BMW hit-and-run case, consumed copious amounts of liquor in two phases before crashing his luxury car into a scooter at Dr Annie Besant Road, that took the life of a woman who was riding pillion and injured the scooterist.

An officer privy to the investigation said, on Saturday night Mihir and three of his friends ordered 12 large pegs of Jack Daniels at Vice-Global Tapas Bar, on Juhu-Tara Road. While three of them drank four pegs each, one settled for Red Bull, running up a cumulative bill of ₹18,730. As one of the friends was a regular at the bar and is 32 years old “liquor was served to all”.

The legal drinking age in Maharashtra is 25.

As the evening came to a close, Mihir dropped his friends to their respective homes and headed for Borivali, where he resides with his family. He drove a Mercedes that evening; and on reaching home decided to go on a joyride in his BMW and headed for Marine Drive, along with his driver, Rajrishi Bidawat, who was at the wheel. On the way they stopped at Sai Prasad Bar, in Malad, and purchased four 500 ml cans of Budweiser Magnum.

“We have recorded the statement of Rajiv Shah, the waiter at the bar, who gave them the beer cans,” said a police officer.

Thereafter, they proceeded towards Marine Drive, drinking along the way.

“While he had evaded questions related to drunk-driving on Wednesday, when confronted with statements of his friends and waiters of the Juhu bar, and other technical evidence, Mihir accepted that he was drunk at the time of the accident,” the officer said.

On Thursday, the two were taken to the accident spot to recreate the scene. “They showed us the point near Girgaon Chowpatty where they had swapped seats and Mihir drove till the Worli Sea Link T-junction after the accident,” said the police officer.

“We have also learnt that after the accident several cars followed them and tried to stop the BMW, but they kept on speeding,” said the police officer.

Repentance after crime

Cops said Mihir expressed remorse on Thursday, realising the suffering he had caused for many. “It is one of the reasons why he accepted being drunk while driving the vehicle when the accident took place. He said he did not realise that the pillion rider was stuck beneath the car,” said the officer.

The accused told the police that after the accident, the scooterist Pradip Nakhwa fell on the bonnet of the BMW, as a result of which the windshield broke. As it was raining hard, they thought the broken wiper was making the noise and did not realise that the woman, Kaveri, Pradip’s wife, was stuck under the vehicle.

They stopped when the vehicle started malfunctioning slightly. When they got down to inspect if anything was broken, they found the woman stuck between one of the tyres and the bumper, and removed her.

“Panicking, Mihir called his father, who shocked by the incident, told the driver to take the wheel. They removed the deceased and put her on the side of the road. But when the driver reversed, he ran over the deceased’s legs again,” said another police officer.

The probe has also revealed that Mihir was in touch with his girlfriend, after he left her house in Goregaon and fled towards Thane on Sunday morning.

“We have questioned her and spoken to her in detail,” said the police officer.

Driver in judicial custody

The Dadar Metropolitan Magistrate court on Thursday remanded Bidawat to judicial custody for 14 days, rejecting police’s plea for an extension of police custody.

Public prosecutors Ravindra Patil and Bharti Bhosale had asked the court to extend Bidawat’s police custody till July 16, like Shah, but the court rejected their plea.

“They threw away the beer cans after the accident. We need to find them and also seize their clothes which they wore at the time of the crime. The number plate of the car which was destroyed also needs to be recovered,” Patil told court.

Meanwhile, Ayush Pasbola who appeared for Bidawat told the court: “Bidawat has said he did not drink any beer, and as the statements of the people who sold the beer have been recorded, much of the investigation is already complete. They don’t need to keep him in custody till the missing numberplate is recovered.”

The police said they are trying to complete the investigations swiftly and have also asked the forensic department which has Mihir’s blood and urine samples to submit report soon.