Chicago – July 12, 2024
Indian police have arrested an influential politician’s son for allegedly mowing down a woman while returning from a late night party, putting the spotlight on how the country’s rich and powerful disregard laws with near impunity and manipulate the system to get away with it.
Mihir Shah, 24, son of Rajesh Shah, a member of the ruling faction of the Shiv Sena party in the western Maharashtra state, was driving back from a weekend party in Mumbai when he crashed his BMW into a fisherfolk couple on a scooter and sped away.
The victims were later identified as Kaveri Nakhwa, 45, and her husband Pradip Nakhwa, 50.
Mr Shah dragged the woman for almost 1.5km, stopped to remove her dead body from under the engine and switched seats with his driver who had been riding in the passenger seat, CCTV footage seen by the Mumbai police showed. Mr Nakhwa was said to be recovering from his injuries.
After removing Nakhwa’s body from under the car and leaving it on the roadside, the police said, Mr Shah sat in the passenger seat while the driver reversed and ran over her once again.
He made frantic calls to his father in the early hours of Sunday and, with his help, evaded arrest for three days, the police said. The politician was released on bail. The driver, Rajrishi Bidawat, was arrested and charged with culpable homicide.
