Pune:

The fact that the teenager who rammed his father’s Porsche into two techies in Pune in May, killing them on the spot, was given bail and asked to write a 300-word essay on road safety had sparked national outrage. NDTV has now accessed the essay, in which the 17-year-old explains why he left the spot after the accident and stresses on the need to follow traffic rules. 

Meeting the bail conditions set by the Juvenile Justice Board on May 19, the day of the accident, the teenager handed in the essay on Wednesday. 

The boy, the son of a prominent Pune builder, had been drinking with his friends in two pubs to celebrate his Class 12 results before knocking down the scooter carrying the two 24-year-old techies – Ashwini Koshta and Anish Awadhiya – in the Porsche at a speed in excess of 150 kmph. He had then sped away.

In the essay, the 17-year-old, who was four months shy of the legal age for driving and more than seven years shy of Maharashtra’s legal age for drinking, said he left the spot because he was scared of what would happen to him and of getting into trouble with the police. This, he said, had also prevented him from going to a police station and reporting the accident. 

He wrote that, instead of fleeing after an accident, people should go to the nearest police station and report what had happened. Not doing so, he said, could land people in trouble. 

Exhorting people to help accident victims, the teenager also said everyone should follow traffic rules for their own safety and that of others. 

‘Confident And Composed’

Asked about the essay, officials said they found it ambiguous and couldn’t make out the teenager’s mental state. They also said that while he was in the remand home, his behaviour was like someone who was older than he is and remained confident and composed even after the arrest of his parents and grandfather. 

On the day of the accident, the teenager was taken to the Yerawada police station, where he was allegedly given VIP treatment and even given pizzas and burgers. Sunil Tingre, an MLA from the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP, had also reached the police station, allegedly to ask police officials to go easy on him.

A murky saga began after that, with the boy’s family allegedly trying to pin the crime on a driver and bribing doctors to get the teenager’s blood samples exchanged before the blood alcohol test. The boy had got bail the same day, only to be sent to a remand home following national outrage. 

In late June, his detention was declared illegal by the Bombay High Court, which ordered his immediate release. 

After the High Court order, Ashwini Koshta’s mother Mamta had said, “I was shocked after seeing the news. I have full faith in the judiciary. They must have made the decision after careful consideration. However, I request the judges to understand the pain of a mother who has lost her daughter. Punishment should be given accordingly so that the public can trust the judicial system.”

Jabalpur:

The Bombay High Court’s decision to order the release of the minor boy allegedly involved in the Porsche car crash has stirred strong emotions with the mother of one of the accident victims urging the judges to understand the pain of a bereaved mother who has lost her daughter.

Ashwini Koshta and her friend Anish Awadhiya, both IT professionals from Madhya Pradesh, were killed in the early hours of May 19 when the luxury car, allegedly driven by the teen who police suspect was driving drunk, collided with their two-wheeler in Kalyani Nagar area of Pune.

The division bench of Justices Bharti Dangre and Manjusha Deshpande of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of the juvenile from an observation home noting that the Juvenile Justice Board’s remand orders were illegal and passed without jurisdiction.

“I was shocked after seeing the news. I have full faith in the judiciary. They must have made the decision after careful consideration. However, I request the judges to understand the pain of a mother who has lost her daughter. Punishment should be given accordingly so that the public can trust the judicial system,” said Mamta Koshta, mother of the victim Ashwini Koshta.

She recalled the Maharashtra government has assured them that justice will be served.

“I don’t know what is in the law. My only request to the judges is to understand the pain of a mother who has lost her daughter. Many girls live there and such incidents should not recur. Those who commit such crimes should learn a lesson. I only request the judges to make the right decision,” she told reporters.

The high court bench noted the JJB’s remand orders were illegal and passed without jurisdiction.

“We allow the petition and order his release. The CCL (Child in Conflict with Law) shall be in the care and custody of the petitioner (paternal aunt),” the court said.

The bench said the court was bound by law, the aims and objectives of the Juvenile Justice Act and must treat him as any child in conflict with the law separately from an adult, despite the seriousness of the crime.

The order was passed on a plea filed by the 17-year-old boy’s paternal aunt, who claimed he was illegally detained and sought his immediate release.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Pune:

The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) here on Friday allowed police to investigate the minor allegedly involved in the Porsche crash that left two techies dead, an official said.

The police had written to the JJB seeking permission to probe the 17-year-old, who is currently in an observation home.

“The hearing took place before the JJ board and it allowed our plea,” said Shailesh Balkawade, Additional Commissioner of Police (crime).

Police claim the teenager was driving the luxury car in an inebriated state when it hit two IT professionals on a motorbike in the city’s Kalyani Nagar area in the early hours of May 19.

Under the Juvenile Justice Act, inquiry of a minor has to be conducted in the parents’ presence.

The JJB granted bail to the teenager, son of a prominent real estate developer, a few hours after the May 19 crash and asked him to write a 300-word essay on road safety. Amid a nationwide outcry, police again approached the JJB, which modified the order and sent him to the observation home till June 5.

After the bail was given to the juvenile by a single member of the JJ Board, the Maharashtra government set up a committee to probe the conduct of the JJB members and check if norms were followed while issuing orders in the Pune car crash case.

The committee, headed by a deputy commissioner, will submit its report by next week, said Prashant Narnavare, commissioner of the Women and Child Department.

The JJB comprises a member from the judiciary and two persons appointed by the state government. The current inquiry has been set up to probe the conduct of the state-appointed members, the official said.

The minor’s father and grandfather have been arrested for allegedly wrongfully confining the family’s driver after the accident, offering him cash and gifts for taking the blame (and shielding the minor), and also threatening him.

The police have also arrested two doctors and a staffer from Sassoon General Hospital here for allegedly manipulating the teenager’s blood samples to show that he was not drunk at the time of the accident.

Police on Friday moved an application for custody of the teenager’s father in connection with the alleged switching of the blood samples. Earlier in the day, Judicial Magistrate (First Class) AA Pande remanded the real estate developer and his father (the minor’s grandfather) in judicial custody for 14 days after their police custody in the driver kidnapping case got over.

As per the police, about a dozen calls were exchanged between the juvenile’s father and Dr Ajay Taware, one of the arrested doctors, while samples were being collected for testing for alcohol consumption.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

A retired customs commissioner has alleged that Dr Ajay Taware, arrested in the Porsche crash case in Pune, had manipulated the gender test report of the former’s daughter-in-law in a marital dispute five years ago.

Dr Taware, head of the department of forensic medicine at Sassoon General Hospital, and two others were arrested earlier this week for allegedly swapping the blood samples of the minor accused of crashing a Porsche into a motorbike in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar and killing two persons.

Talking to PTI on Thursday, the retired official claimed that the doctor had played a role in fudging the gender test report of his estranged daughter-in-law.

He filed a complaint against Taware and others with the Medical Council of India as well as the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra but no action was taken, he said.

The customs official’s son got married in 2013, but his daughter-in-law refused to have sexual relations with her husband, he said.

When he checked her medical history and birth certificate at Aurangabad (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), her birthplace, the official found that she was born a male in 1984. After ten years, the municipal corporation issued a new birth certificate mentioning her gender as female.

The daughter-in-law filed a case of dowry harassment against the family and the matter landed in a court in Andheri here.

In 2018, the court ordered a gender test of the woman. It was conducted at Sassoon Hospital in Pune, and a medical panel which included Dr Taware gave a report in February 2019 that she was “phenotypically and genotypically female”, the official said.

The test should have been conducted in Aurangabad, not in Pune, and Dr Taware manipulated the report, he claimed.

“If the car crash case gets transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, I will submit all the evidence against Dr Taware and others,” the former commissioner said.

Notably, in 2022, the Maharashtra government had suspended the regional organ transplant authorization committee at Pune of which Dr Taware was a member, after a racket related to kidney transplant approvals came to light.

Dr Taware is currently in the custody of Pune police.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Pune:

The blood sample of the Pune teen, whose late-night Porsche dash left two young engineers dead, may have been swapped with his mother’s sample to manipulate the alcohol test report and get him off the hook.

With the investigation into the chilling crash revealing massive irregularities in the 17-year-old’s medical examination at the state-run Sassoon Hospital, Maharashtra Medical Education had appointed a three-member committee headed by Dr Pallavi Sapale, dean of Mumbai-based Grants Medical College, to look into the matter.

The panel’s report, police sources said, has revealed that blood samples of a woman and two elderly men had been collected with the intention of switching the teen accused’s sample. Police now suspect that the teen’s mother sample had been collected as part of this plan, the sources added.

Police now plan to collect samples of some suspects to get to the bottom of this, the sources said. They are looking for the teen’s mother after they did not find her home.

The teen’s mother had earlier appeared in a video message in which she had said that a viral video purportedly featuring her son was fake. She had also appealed to the police to “protect” her son and broke down on camera.

While the teen accused is at an observation home, his realtor father and grandfather have been arrested. The family, it is alleged, tried to pressure their driver into taking the blame for the accident. If the sample under probe is found to be his mother’s, it will point to the involvement of another family member in the cover-up attempt.

Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Kostha, 24-year-old engineers from Madhya Pradesh, were killed when a speeding Porsche hit their bike late on May 19. The teen, alleged to be driving the car drunk, was out on bail within 15 hours on conditions widely described as flimsy — he was asked to write a 300-word essay, told to work with traffic cops for 15 days and seek treatment for his drinking habit.

Amid growing outrage, the Juvenile Justice Board modified its order and sent him to an observation home till June 5, as a decision is taken on the police plea for permission to try the teen as an adult.

The investigation later found that the blood report of the teen accused was manipulated by switching samples. Dr Ajay Taware, head of Sassoon Hospital’s forensic medicine department, chief medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor and staff Atul Ghatkamble have been arrested in this connection. The probe has revealed that Dr Halnor and Ghatkamble received Rs 3 lakh from Dr Taware to change the blood samples, a police officer has said.

In the first major action following outrage over alleged lapses by the police following the Pune Porsche accident, in which two techies in their 20s lost their lives, an inspector and an assistant police inspector have been suspended and the case has been transferred to the Pune Police Crime Branch.  

Police Inspector Rahul Jagdale and Assistant Police Inspector Vishwanath Todkari were suspended for not following the protocol of informing their superiors – the deputy commissioner of police on night duty in this instance – about the accident. The cops were attached to the Yerwada police station, where the teenager was taken after the accident. 

The case, which was registered at the police station, has also been taken away and assigned to the Crime Branch. 

The accident took place around 2.15 am on Sunday, when the 17-year-old, who had been drinking with his friends in two pubs in Pune to celebrate his Class 12 results, knocked down the two 24-year-old IT professionals in the Kalyani Nagar area. Aneesh Awadhiya, who was riding the bike was sent flying and hit a parked car, while Ashwini Koshta – who was riding pillion – was flung 20 feet into the air. Both of them died on the spot. 

NDTV had reported how, in addition to probing the alleged preferential treatment given to the boy – the son of a prominent Pune realtor – his medical test had been delayed. Another lapse on the part of the cops, which had been pointed out by sources, was that the cops did not inform the central police control room, disregarding the laid-down procedure. 

The control room has to be informed to ensure there is a proper record of cases and senior police officials can also get involved if a case comes up that needs their attention. 

After the pizza-burger fiasco, in which the Pune teen who rammed his Porsche into two techies was allegedly given preferential treatment by the police, more lapses on the part of the cops have come to the fore, sources have said. 

Confirming earlier claims about this, the sources have said that the medical test of the teenager, who had been drinking before the deadly accident, had been delayed. 

The crash had taken place around 2.15 am on Sunday and the teenager and his two friends had been caught by a crowd immediately. The sources said procedure dictates that an accused be taken for a medical test as soon as possible but the teenager was escorted to a police station in Yerwada and the test did not happen until many hours later. 

Given that the 17-year-old had consumed liquor, the sources said that the delay could also influence the blood alcohol level found in the test. 

The teenager, who had been drinking with his friends in two pubs in Pune to celebrate his Class 12 results, had knocked down the two IT professionals – both 24 years old – in the Kalyani Nagar area. Aneesh Awadhiya, who was riding the bike was sent flying and hit a parked car, while Ashwini Koshta – who was riding pillion – was flung 20 feet into the air. Both of them had died on the spot. 

Another lapse that has been pointed out by the sources is that the cops did not inform the central police control room, which is part of the laid-down procedure. This is done to ensure that there is a proper record of cases and senior police officials can get involved if an incident demands their attention. 
 

Pune:

The mother of the 17-year-old boy who allegedly fatally knocked down two persons with his high-end Porsche car has appealed to the police to “protect” her son after a video purportedly featuring him, boasting about how he got away with the accident, went viral.

In a video message, the teen’s mother stressed that the clip had nothing to do with her son and that it was fake.

“The video which is being circulated is not of my son. That is a fake video. My son is in the detention centre,” says the teen’s mother in her message.

ALSO READ | Big Twist In Pune Porsche Crash: Cops To Probe Cops In Pizza, Burger Row

Appealing to the police to “protect” her son, the mother breaks down, and shows her video message. Unable to gather herself, she then walks away from the camera.

A rap song purportedly featuring the teenager, boasting about how he got away with the car crash, went viral on social media, but Pune police have clarified that it was a fake account and that the teenager had no role in the video.

Later, it was found that the rap video was of a social media influencer.

ALSO READ | Pune Teen’s Porsche Crash Puts Spotlight On Supari Case Against Grandfather

A Porsche, allegedly driven by the 17-year-old, who the police claim was drunk at the time, fatally knocked down two motorbike-borne software engineers in the city in the early hours of Sunday.

The teenager was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) which granted him bail while asking him to write a 300-word essay.

Following an outcry over quick bail and the police’s review plea, the JJB on Wednesday remanded the teen, son of real estate developer Vishal Agarwal, to the observation home till June 5.

The police have also arrested the teenager’s father in connection with the case.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Pune:

The case against the Pune teen – who killed two people early Sunday while drunk and driving his father’s Rs 2.5 crore Porsche supercar – took an additional twist Thursday evening.

The police will now also investigate potential lapses in protocol in the hours following the incident, including possible preferential treatment for the 17-year-old son of a prominent city builder.

Specifically, a senior cop – Assistant Commissioner of Police Ashwini Rakh – will question officers and staff at the police station in Yerwada where the complaint was first filed. The allegations include underplaying the horrific nature of the incident in the first write-ups and delaying a medical examination, which should have been done immediately to establish the boy’s blood alcohol level.

But perhaps most shocking is a claim that the cops were more interested in ‘investigating’ Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta – the 24-year-old software professionals who were killed.

Pizza, Burger For Teen In Pune Porsche Crash?

Meanwhile, an opposition politician has said the boy was handled cautiously and even given food – pizzas and burgers – while in police custody as an accused in a stomach-churning road accident.

The claim was made by Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief and two-time ex-Lok Sabha MP Prakash Ambedkar, who posted on X, “Officers at Yerwada Police Station spent more time questioning the relationship between Anish and Ashwini – IT professionals fatally knocked down by drunk minor -while the accused was allegedly served burger and pizza”, and posed six questions to the cops.

Officers at Yerawada police station spent more time questioning the relationship between Anish and Ashwini — the two IT professionals who were fatally knocked down by the drunk minor — while the accused was allegedly served burger and pizza.

This is how the system benefits the…

— Prakash Ambedkar (@Prksh_Ambedkar) May 22, 2024

Among the questions he raised (and which may now be answered) were the eight-hour delay in administering a blood alcohol test and why the boy was not sent directly to a remand home.

READ | “1 Hour TV, 2 Hours Play Time”: Pune Teen’s Remand Home Schedule

There was outrage after the Juvenile Board gave the boy bail within 15 hours on conditions as ridiculous as two bonds of Rs 7,500 each and writing a 300-word essay on road accidents. Late Wednesday that order was revised and the boy was sent to a remand home till June 5.

At present the boy faces a drunk driving charge that, for a first-time offence, limits punishment to six months jail and a fine of Rs 10,000. A charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder will be levied should the Juvenile Board allow him to be tried as an adult.

Rahul Gandhi On Pune Porsche Crash

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has also questioned the cops over preferential treatment for the boy, asking why accused in similar cases – if they are auto or cab drivers – don’t get bail as quickly.

READ | With 7 Conditions, Teen Porsche Driver Got Bail On Grandad’s Say

“When a teen from a rich family drinks alcohol and kills two people in a Porsche… he is told to pen an ‘essay’. Why are bus, truck, and auto drivers, or cabbies, not asked to write such essays?”

“The question is of equal justice (for) the poor and prosperous…” he said.

Father’s Mobile Phone Found

Police have also found the mobile phone of the boy’s father, who was arrested the day after the incident from Sambhajinagar (earlier Aurangabad) after an elaborate rescue plan was thwarted.

READ | Pune Teen’s Father Had Big Escape Plan. How Was He Caught?

The phone – understood to be the father’s original, which he left at home while trying to escape the cops – is now in the custody of the Crime Branch, which says he is not cooperating with the probe.

The father faces a charge of willful neglect of his son under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.

NDTV Explains | Charges Against Pune Builder, Son Who Killed 2 With Porsche

The bar where the boy was served alcohol has been sealed, and its owner and staff are in police custody. They are being investigated for selling liquor to an under-aged individual.

At 17 years and 8 months, the boy was four months short of the legal age for driving and eight years shy of Maharashtra’s legal drinking age, which is 25.

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New Delhi:

For some, the Pune Porsche crash is a tragic example of why minors should not be allowed to drive. Many see it as a test of the country’s justice system. For another section, the question is whether privilege will again enable the teen to get off lightly. But for two homes in Madhya Pradesh, it is about a vacuum that nothing can ever fill. For them, “the Porsche case” signifies endless pain.

Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Kostha were two 24-year-old engineers who left their small city homes with many dreams. That night in Pune, they were out to meet friends and were returning on a bike when a drunken teen at the wheel of his high-end car hit them from behind. Ashwini, eyewitnesses said, was thrown 20 feet high and landed hard. Aneesh was thrown at a parked car. Both died on the spot.

At her Jabalpur home, Ashwini’s mother Mamata is still in shock. “We were supposed to send her off in a doli (to the groom’s house) after her wedding, but we were forced to carry her arthi (bier),” she told news agency PTI.

“We want justice for Ashwini. The minor boy and his parents should get stringent punishment. They have not raised him properly. They should have not given him the car,” she said about the 17-year-old driver, who has now been remanded in an observation home as the Juvenile Justice Board decides whether he will be tried as an adult.

Police have said the teenager was heavily drunk when he drove the Porsche, reportedly at 200 km per hour. The Juvenile Justice Board had earlier granted bail to the boy on conditions widely considered very flimsy. The conditions included writing a 300-word essay on “road accident and their solution”, studying traffic rules for 15 days and attending counselling for his drinking habit and psychiatric treatment.

“Is it a joke? What essay will he write? A joke is playing out,” Ms Koshta said. She described Ashwini as a “very talented girl”. “She was one in a million. She had so many dreams,” she said, tears rolling down her eyes.

Ashwini’s brother Samprit told NDTV she was “smart” and “independent”. “She excelled in every field. She had plans to come to our father’s birthday next month and she had also planned a retirement party for him,” he said.

About 150 km away is another mother, whose world turned upside down that night. Speaking to NDTV, Savita Awadhiya held herself together for some questions, before grief won and she could not hold back tears anymore. “He killed my son. Now, I will never be able to meet my son. It is the boy’s mistake, you can call it murder. If he had not made such a big mistake, no one would have died. If only his family members had paid attention, today my son would have been alive,” she said.

Ms Awadhiya said the teen driver must get tough punishment. “He should face the strictest punishment. They are trying very hard to save him. They are people with money and think can save their son. But my son died,” she said, appealing to the Maharashtra government to help her get justice.

Remembering her son, she said Aneesh wanted to pursue an MBA. “He was very cheerful, he would make everyone his own. Earlier this month, he came home for an anniversary. He was planning to visit again soon. He had told me he was getting me a gift for me.”

Anish’s father Om Awadhiya said he was a responsible son who shouldered family responsibilities. His younger brother was staying with him in Pune and he took care of him.

“The culprit will get punishment… But how can we bring back our child now? He spoke to his mother two days before the accident and told us he will come soon. He was a big support for the family. What will happen to my younger son now? Who will take care of him in Pune?” he said.