“The Deputy Chief Minister asked us to conduct a thorough probe... And that there should be stringent action against the accused,” Kumar told this paper. (File Photo)
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the state Home minister, on Monday called up Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar and asked him to ensure there was no soft-pedalling against the accused in the Porsche hit-and-run case, in which two youngsters died in Kalyani Nagar area of the city early Sunday morning.
“The Deputy Chief Minister asked us to conduct a thorough probe… And that there should be stringent action against the accused,” Kumar told this paper. “Fadnavis asked us to find out whether there was any soft-pedalling against the accused,” he said.
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Asked about the blood sample report of the 17-year-old who was at the wheel of the Porsche, the Police Commissioner said, “I am yet to receive the report…”
Asked whether the Pune police have appealed against the lower court order rejecting their demand to try the accused as an adult, Kumar confirmed they have appealed in the higher court.
Meanwhile, political parties, including the ruling BJP, expressed shock and outrage over the incident.
BJP spokesperson Sandeep Khardekar said, “It is shocking that two young lives were lost in this manner. It is equally shocking that a 17-year-old who was driving a luxury car rashly is responsilbe for the deaths. We expect that the police will take stringent action in the matter. Fadnavis has given clear instructions to the Pune police to ensure the accused don’t get away and stringent cases are filed in the matter.”
Khardekar said the pub culture needs to be controlled by the police. “If pub-going youths are going to disturb the lives of other citizens, there is need to take strict action against them. Pubs cannot be allowed to function at their whims and fancies. If they are functioning beyond the stipulated deadline, they should lose their licences,” he said.
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In a letter to the Police Commissioner, the BJP city unit said, “The police should take action against pubs and bars which remain open till late night… During midnight, at several chowks drunk youngsters are seen creating ruckus. Police need to step up bandobast during night time.”
Congress MLA Ravindra Dhangekar demanded that the father of the accused should be immediately arrested. “Besides action should be taken against the pub management which served liquor to the minor boy. The pub licence should be cancelled immediately,” he said.
Demanding action against the police, Dhangekar said, “The police who were lenient against the accused should face action now. They allowed the accused to get away with bail. The government should initiate action against the police.”
“Since the accused got away easily and now attempts are being made to show that he is 17 years old, I demand that the police conduct a thorough investigation and take stringent action in the matter,” he added.
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Mukund Kirdat, Pune city chief of AAP, said, “For the last three-four years, it is seen that pub culture and nightlife culture is growing in the city. Besides the police, the state government also has an important role to play in controlling the nuisance caused by pub culture. Hotels, pubs and bars are being constructed violating rules… In yesterday’s incident, the role of an MLA has come under cloud. The police should take stringent action against the accused, otherwise Puneites will lose faith in the police.”
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
