Victim’s husband moves HC, wants murder charge against Mihir Shah

he Bombay high court on Tuesday issued notice to the police on a petition filed by the husband of the woman killed in the Worli hit-and-run case of July 2024, alleging that the police investigation suggested bias and negligence.

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday issued notice to the police on a petition filed by the husband of the woman killed in the Worli hit-and-run case of July 2024, alleging that the police investigation suggested bias and negligence.

Mihir Shah (HT)

A bench of justice Revati Mohite-Dere and justice Dr. Neela Gokhale posted the petition for further hearing on January 21.

The plea filed by Pradeep Nakhwa, the husband of the victim, Kaveri Nakhwa, 45, claimed that the police did not charge Mihir Shah, one of the accused in the case, for murder, despite there being clear evidence of Shah’s knowledge of the fatal consequences of his action.

“They ran over us with their car and then dragged my wife for a long distance, eventually running the car over her and brutally killing her,” Nakhwa said, while speaking to HT on why he approached the court.

“Six months have passed but there is no sense of justice. People come and console us, but no one can understand our pain. She was a breadwinner for the family,” he added.

In the early hours of July 7, an inebriated Mihir Shah, son of a former Shinde Sena leader, Rajesh Shah, and his friend Rajrishi hit a couple on a scooter at Worli Sea Face, with his speeding BMW. While the man, Pradeep Nakhwa, landed on the BMW’s bonnet, his wife Kaveri got trapped between a front wheel and the bumper of the car. As Shah kept driving at breakneck speed, Nakhwa was thrown off the car. Kaveri was dragged for over two kilometres till the vehicle broke down.

The plea alleged that while dragging and running over Kaveri, Shah was aware of the fatal consequences of his actions and, hence, although the police have charged Shah with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rash driving, and other offences, a charge of murder needs to be added against Shah and Bidawat.

“The accused’s actions, dragging the victim despite her being visibly trapped under the vehicle, demonstrate deliberate and inhumane conduct, justifying the inclusion of the section 103 (murder). The autopsy report confirmed that the cause of Kaveri’s death was shock and haemorrhage caused by multiple severe abrasions, consistent with brutal dragging and collision,” the plea filed by Nakhawa, through advocate Dileep Satale, stated.

The high court had earlier dismissed a plea filed by Shah and Bidawat, questioning their arrest in the case and seeking release on bail on that ground, prompting Shah to approach the Supreme Court in appeal. He, however, filed a regular bail plea after the apex court expressed its disinclination to grant him relief.