Shivam Mishra – the son of Uttar Pradesh tobacco businessman KK Mishra and the main accused in the Kanpur Lamborghini crash case – was arrested Thursday morning and was presented in court after a routine medical check, city police officials said.
"We got information he (Shivam Mishra) is in Kanpur. Five teams were formed and we arrested him... he has been presented in court," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Kanpur Central) AK Srivastava said.
Mishra was arrested four days after a Lamborghini Revuelto, an Italian luxury sports car that costs over Rs 10 crore and was reportedly speeding, lost control and crashed into pedestrians and vehicles, including two-wheelers and a e-rickshaw on Kanpur's VIP Road Sunday afternoon.
Six people were injured in the crash. The car first hit the rickshaw and then crashed into a parked Royal Enfield motorcycle, the rider of which was flung 10 feet away. The Lamborghini then mounted the bike's front wheel and dragged it for some distance before colliding with an electric pole and coming to a halt.
Eye-wtinesses claimed that private security personnel accompanying Shivam Mishra tried to push the crowd back and take him away from the scene before the authorities arrived.
The black Lamborghini - with a Delhi number plate - was seized and sent for inspection.
The black Lamborghini is now in police custody.
Shivam Mishra's arrest this morning followed dramatic developments Wednesday.
The preliminary investigation said Mishra was driving and his name was added to a case that included charges of negligent and rash driving, endangering lives, and causing hurt by dangerous means.
All of this happened while Mishra was on the run.
But on Wednesday a man turned up at a Kanpur court claiming he, and not Shivam Mishra, had been driving the car. Identifying himself as Mohan, he said he was the designated driver.
Mohan said he lost control of the vehicle after Shivam Mishra suffered a sudden seizure moments before the accident. Mishra's family had earlier claimed he suffers from epilepsy.
READ | Man Says He Was Driving In Kanpur Lamborghini Crash, Court Rejects
"I was driving the car when the accident happened. Suddenly, he had a seizure and fell on me… I got scared and was trying to hold him with one hand. The car hit a three-wheeler…" Mohan claimed, adding an auto locking system prevented him from exiting the vehicle immediately after the crash, prompting him to shift (inside a cramped cabin) Mishra to the driver's seat.
Mohan's story was, unsurprisingly, backed by Shivam Mishra's family.
READ | "He Wasn't Driving": Lawyer Of Kanpur Businessman's Son
Mrityunjay Kumar, a lawyer for the Mishras, argued Monday, "Shivam was not driving; his driver, Mohan, was. This is an accident case. Since he was not driving, there can be no case against him."
However, police maintained the evidence established Shivam as the driver, including videos of him being pulled out of the driver's seat after the crash. One such video showed a man carrying Mishra away from the driver's seat while stunned locals can be heard saying 'keep filming'.
Visuals showed Shivam Mishra being pulled from the driver's seat.
In view of the police's stand, and noting the initial complaint did not name the driver, the court declined to accept Mohan's surrender.
Amid all this, there have also been complaints of police soft-peddling in this case, given the family's wealth and influence. The argument was that the first case lodged named 'unknown persons' and Mishra's name was only added hours later. Also, the officer in charge of the local police station, Santosh Kumar Gaur, was suspended for failing to follow protocol after the crash.
Shivam Mishra is the son of KK Mishra, the owner of a Banshidhar Exports Pvt Ltd, and who has been under the scanner of the Income Tax Department. In March 2024, the department searched multiple premises in Delhi and Kanpur, and found luxury vehicles and approximately Rs 4.5 crore in cash.
Among the found in those searches were a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a McLaren, a Porsche, and the Lamborghini involved in this accident. Many of them had the same registration number - i.e., '4018'.
