Pune:

Police have arrested two persons in connection with the alleged swapping of the blood samples of minors who were with the juvenile accused in the Porsche car crash case in Pune, a top official said on Tuesday.

The arrested duo included the father of one of the two minors who were with the 17-year-old driver when he rammed his speeding Porsche car into two IT professionals on a motorbike on May 19 in Kalyani Nagar.

With the duo’s arrest late Monday night, the number of persons held in the Porsche car crash case has gone up to nine.

“The blood samples of two minors who were with the juvenile accused in the car (at the time of the crash) were swapped with those of these two (arrested) persons, who included the father of one of the minors,” Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said.

The arrested men were on Tuesday produced before a local court which sent them to police custody till August 26.

The high-end car driven by the minor allegedly under the influence of alcohol knocked down two motorbike-borne IT professionals, one of them a woman, in the early hours of May 19, killing both of them.

The boy’s father is a prominent builder.

The boy’s parents and two doctors – Dr Ajay Taware, then-HOD (forensic medicine), Dr Shrihari Halnor — and one Atul Ghatkamble, a staffer at government-run Sassoon Hospital — have already been arrested for allegedly swapping the blood samples of the teen driver with those of his mother when he was taken for a medical examination after the crash.

Two other accused – Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad – acted as middlemen between the father and the doctors to facilitate financial transactions to swap the blood samples. They were also arrested earlier.

The police recently filed a 900-page chargesheet in the case against seven accused arrested earlier. 

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

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.”

Pune:

A committee looking into alleged discrepancies in a report by a non-judicial member of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in the Pune Porsche crash case has found lapses in the report, sources said.

The JJB’s non-judicial member, Dr LN Danwade, had released the 17-year-old teen, who allegedly drove the Porsche that rammed two IT engineers and killed them, on bail within 15 hours of the accident.

The committee in a 100-page report to the Social Justice Department now said among the many red flags in the way Dr Danwade handled the matter, he did not consider the flaws in the blood report, which did not come from the police.

The JJB also did not make a roster as is the norm, and Dr Danwade gave the decision to release the accused teen “in haste”, the committee said in its report.

The order should have been given only in the presence of more JJB members, but no one from the JJB apart from Dr Danwade was present in court at the time the bail order was given, the committee said.

The JJB Bench would have overturned the bail order the next day since the flaws were obvious, the committee said. Notices have been issued against all the JJB members 

Show cause notices have been issued against all JJB members including non-judicial ones. They have been ordered to respond to the alleged flaws.

The Porsche car driven by the teenager, son of a builder, crashed into a motorbike in the early hours of May 19, killing IT professionals Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both residents of Madhya Pradesh. The teen was driving under the influence, according to the police.

The boy’s parents are in police custody in connection with a case related to alleged swapping of his blood samples at the state-run Sassoon General Hospital.

The bail terms included writing a 300-word essay on road safety and bonds worth Rs 15,000. These terms were later modified – after widespread public outrage and the police indicating they would charge the boy as an adult – and he was sent to a remand home.

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.)

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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