Luxury cars vs ordinary lives: How common people fall victim to the entitled rich

Just over a month ago, a terrible accident in Pune involving a high-speeding Porsche, allegedly driven by the drunken son of a high-profile realtor, took the lives of two young IT professionals.

On July 7, a similar incident involving a speeding BMW driven by the son of a politician from the Shinde Sena party, who was also allegedly drunk, caused the death of a 45-year-old woman. She and her husband, both fish sellers, were returning from Sassoon Dock after buying fish.

In just a flash, the hopes, dreams, and lives of common people get crushed under high-end luxury cars, with no concrete deterrent to prevent such incidents in the future.

While the Pune Porsche crash involved a 17-year-old teen who was due to turn 18 just four months after the accident, the recent Mumbai BMW hit-and-run features 24-year-old Mihir Shah, who was allegedly drinking late into the night over the July 6 weekend.

The investigation has revealed that he partied with four friends in a Juhu bar where he spent ₹ 18,000. The accused teen in Pune crash reportedly spent Rs 48,000 within 90 minutes at one of the two pubs he visited hours before he rammed his luxury vehicle into the bike.

According to the investigation so far, horrifying details have emerged where the CCTV footage showed the woman was dragged for over 1.5 km after hitting her.

Kaveri Nakhwa and her husband Pradeep Nakhwa, who were on a two-wheeler were hit from behind by the BMW driven by Mihir and sped away.

The police said several CCTV footage taken from many locations showed Mihar Shah stopping the car after dragging Kaveri Nakhwa for 1.5 km and then exchanging seats with his driver.

The police said that Mihir called his father, Rajesh Shah, who advised him to flee and instructed Bidawat to take responsibility. Much like in the Pune crash, where the driver was coerced into admitting that he was behind the wheel when the accident happened.

Mihir's driver then reversed the BMW and ran over the woman's body apparently to mislead the police. They took the Sea Link to Bandra, where the car broke down in Kalanagar and Mihir fled the scene.

They also allegedly removed the vehicle's registration number and the Shiv Sena stickers, the political party Rajesh Shah is affiliated with.

Rajesh arrived later and told Bidawat he had called for a tow vehicle, but police arrived first and apprehended both men. The driver confessed that Shah had instructed him to take the blame.

During a court hearing, where the father of the accused, Rajesh Shah and his driver Rajrishi Rajendrasingh Bidavat were produced, the police said that Mihir Shah removed the woman's body from underneath the engine bay and the bumper, and left the body on the road.

The police said in court that the driver was “well aware of his actions and helped the other accused,” which justified the culpable homicide charge.

An FIR has been registered against the accused under the new criminal code Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita under sections about culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rash driving, and destruction of evidence, including provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

Both Mihir's father and his driver were arrested after the accident and produced in the metropolitan magistrate court in Sewri on July 8.

Meanwhile, Mihir is still absconding and the Mumbai Police has issued a lookout notice to prevent him from leaving India. The Mumbai Police have also formed 11 teams and deployed the Crime Branch to arrest him.

The victim's husband, Pradeep has demanded stringent punishment for the accused and said his wife could have been saved if the driver had stopped the car on time.

“I asked him to stop, yet he didn’t stop; he ran away. She (the deceased) must have been in so much pain. Everyone knows this but no one is doing anything. There is no one for the poor,” Pradeep said.

Recalling the accident, Pradeep said, “I started running behind the car asking the driver to stop. Had he stopped the car, my wife could have been saved."

In the Pune case, the accused's influential family also tried to tamper with evidence and mislead the police. The accused in this case has been released from the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) after the aunt of the accused minor filed a habeas corpus petition in the Bombay High Court.

The petition challenged her nephew's detention citing it as illegal under the Juvenile Justice Act. The Pune Police, however, have now decided to challenge the High Court order in the Supreme Court, with approval from the Maharashtra Chief Minister, to ensure the accused faces trial.

Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde expressed concern over rising hit-and-run accidents in Maharashtra and said no one would be spared.

"No one, whether rich, influential or the offspring of bureaucrats or ministers, affiliated with any party, will have immunity as long as I am the Chief Minister," he said.

"It is intolerable that the powerful and influential misuse their status to manipulate the system. Such miscarriage of justice will not be tolerated by my government," the CM added.