Mumbai hit-and-run: Amid surging cases in Maharashtra, CM Shinde says ’won’t let influential persons…’

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde assured speedy justice on Monday amid a surge in hit-and-run cases in the state. The remarks came amid a furore over the politically-tinged Mumbai BMW hit-and-run case and efforts to nab the absconding accused. Drunk or rash driving incidents in the state have left at least four people killed and several others injured in the past two months. 

Shinde said that he was ‘deeply alarmed’ by the rise in such accidents and insisted that the lives of ordinary citizens were ‘precious’ to his government. The CM said that he had already directed the state police department to handle the cases with ‘utmost seriousness’ and announced plans to implement “stricter laws and harsher penalties for hit-and-run offenders”.

“It is intolerable that the powerful and influential misuse their status to manipulate the system…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 of the State. I have zero tolerance for injustice,” Eknath Shinde said.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police formed 14 teams on Monday to arrest Mihir Shah and issued a lookout notice for the absconding accused. The 24-year-old, incidentally the son of Shiv Sena (faction led by CM Eknath Shinde) politician, Rajesh Shah, has been missing since the BMW car he was allegedly driving hit a scooter in Worli on Sunday morning.

According to the police, Mihir Shah had visited a pub in the Juhu area of Mumbai with his friends before the incident. Officials have already recorded the statements of three of his friends. The police also said that the accused had spoken to his father (Rajesh Shah) on the phone several times after the accident. The latter was arrested alongside another individual on Sunday for failing to cooperate with the police.

“A BMW car ran over two people riding a bike. The woman died in the incident and the other person was injured. The incident took place at 5:30 am when the couple riding a bike were passing in front of the Atria Mall in Worli,” a statement from the Mumbai Police had explained earlier.

The incident in Worli comes less than two months after the Pune Porsche case that saw a 17-year-old boy ram into a motorbike, allegedly under the influence of alcohol. The case had resulted in the deaths of two software engineers.

Yet another fresh hit-and-run case was reported from Pune late on Sunday night. An unidentified vehicle hit the 43-year-old policeman's motorcycle in the Pimpri Chinchwad area, resulting in his death. 

(With inputs from agencies)