Gujarat: Court convicts Vismay Shah in BMW hit-and-run case

Ahmedabad, Jul 13: A city court on Monday convicted Vismay Shah, who had driven his BMW car at breakneck speed on a busy city road in 2013 and rammed it into a motorcycle, leaving two youths dead.

Additional Sessions Judge P M Patel held 28-year-old Vismay guilty in the infamous BMW hit-and-run case. The accident occurred in February 2013, when Shah, who was driving the BMW car at a speed of about 110 kmph on the busy Judges bungalow road of the city, rammed it into a motorcycle, killing engineering student Shivam Dave (25) and his friend Rahul Patel (21), near Premchandnagar.

After the judge pronounced Vismay guilty, arguments for the quantum of sentence began in the court. During the arguments, Public Prosecutor Pravin Trivedi told the court that Shah should be given the maximum punishment possible to set an example for others who drive recklessly on busy roads.

He also told the court that Shah showed no sympathy towards the victims, as he decided to flee from the spot instead of taking the youths to hospital. Shah has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 304(2) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), and Motor Vehicle Act.

"Under this section (304-II), the maximum sentence could go up to 10 years of imprisonment," said Trivedi.

However, defence lawyer pleaded for leniency in sentence. Vismay has been in jail for 13 months after being arrested in the case. During this time, he applied for bail 14 times in lower and higher courts.

The Supreme Court had granted him bail in March 2014. The CCTV footage of the incident had led to an outrage all over the country.

PTI