BMW hit-and-run convict Vismay Shah refused bail; lawyer cites Salman Khan case

AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat High Court today rejected the bail plea of Vismay Shah, awarded a five-year jail term by a lower court in a 2013 BMW hit-and-run case, even as his lawyer cited the case of superstar Salman Khan who was given the relief in a similar incident in Mumbai.

Justice S G Shah rejected the bail application of Vismay whose car had mowed down two youth.

After a Sessions Court convicted Vismay on July 13, he had moved a plea before the High Court against the verdict and sought bail on ground that prosecution had failed to prove he was driving the car when the mishap occured.

The 28-year-old was awarded five-year rigorous imprisonment by the trial court which convicted him under IPC Sections 304(2) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 279 (rash and negligent driving).

The accident occurred in February 2013 when Vismay, who was driving his BMW car on busy Judges Bungalow Road of the city, rammed it into a motorcycle killing engineering student Shivam Dave (25) and his friend Rahul Patel (21).

During the arguments today in the HC, Vismay's lawyer cited the May 8 judgement of Bombay High Court which granted bail to Salman who was also convicted under IPC Section 304(2) in a 2002 hit-and run-case.

Opposing Vismay's plea, prosecution lawyer Jeet Bhatt said he had violated the conditions on which the Supreme Court had granted him bail after arrest earlier.

The SC had granted him bail on the condition that he will not influence the witnesses. However, Shah violated this condition and as a result a key witness, Lalit Gupta, who earlier admitted before a Magistrate that he saw Shah at the scene of crime, later turned hostile, Bhatt submitted.

Therefore, Shah should not be granted bail, he said. In addition, the prosecution argued that Shah should not be given any relief in order to set an example in society where such hit-and-run incidents are happening frequently and many a time the accused escape punishment.

Shah is at present lodged in Sabarmati Central Prison here.