Hyderabad: MP’s son charged after he kills 26-year-old woman 

There is a particular kind of Indian road accident that has become depressingly familiar. A powerful luxury car crashes. Someone dies. The driver happens to be young, wealthy, or politically connected. And before the dust has settled, the public begins asking a question that should never have to be asked: would the response have been the same if the person behind the wheel had been nobody in particular? 

The latest case, in Hyderabad, has all the ingredients. 

Gruesome scenes in Hyderabad 

On August 16, 21-year-old Lingamaneni Sanjush, son of Jana Sena Party Rajya Sabha MP Lingamaneni Ramesh, was allegedly driving an Aston Martin when it struck 26-year-old Bharati Mukhi, a saleswoman at Inorbit Mall, in Madhapur. Bharati died.  

Police have booked Sanjush under Section 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for causing death by negligence. He was served a notice under Section 35(3) of the BNSS and given station bail rather than being arrested. Police say the investigation is continuing, and that his breathalyser and drug tests were negative. 

Legally, there is an important distinction here. A notice, rather than an arrest, does not automatically mean preferential treatment. The offence invoked is bailable, and the police have said they are following procedure. But public confidence does not live entirely inside sections of the law.  

That is because India has seen this movie before. In Pune, the 2024 Porsche crash became a national scandal after a 17-year-old allegedly drove a Porsche Taycan after drinking and crashed into a motorcycle, killing software engineers Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta.  

A tale of two India’s 

What turned an awful accident into something much larger was the extraordinary sequence that followed: questions over the teenager’s initial treatment, the delayed blood test, allegations of blood-sample manipulation, and the astonishingly lenient first bail conditions. The case eventually widened to include allegations against the boy’s parents, doctors, and others. The teenager remains legally treated as a juvenile, after the Juvenile Justice Board rejected the police’s plea to try him as an adult, and he was granted bail. 

Then came Mumbai’s BMW case. 

In July 2024, Mihir Shah, the son of former Shiv Sena functionary Rajesh Shah, allegedly drove a BMW that struck a scooter in Worli, killing 45-year-old Kaveri Nakhwa. Prosecutors allege that Shah had been drinking, was speeding, and fled the scene. He was arrested two days later. The prosecution has since submitted draft charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. 

These cases are not identical. The legal facts, ages, alleged offences, evidence, and circumstances differ. They should not be collapsed into one convenient narrative of “rich people getting away with it”. But they do share something important: the perception that privilege can create a softer landing. And that perception is corrosive. 

A mindset problem persists 

Luxury cars are not the problem. Aston Martins, Porsches, BMWs, Bentleys, and Lamborghinis do not kill people. Reckless driving does. Alcohol does. Poor judgement does. And, occasionally, sheer bad luck does. 

The real test is whether the law can look past the badge on the bonnet and the surname on the driver’s licence. Because the road does not know who owns the car, and neither should justice.