Porsche car crash: Supplementary chargesheet against 2 for swapping blood samples

The supplementary chargesheet is of 242 pages and consists of 17 witness statements, stated a press release issued on Friday.

Two IT engineers Aneesh Awadhiya and his friend Ashwini Koshta, both aged 24 and hailing from Madhya Pradesh, were killed after the speeding Porsche driven by a 17-year-old boy allegedly in an inebriated state hit their motorcycle around 2.30 am on May 19.

A first information report (FIR) was lodged on the same day against the minor car driver at the Yerwada police station. The police investigation revealed that when the minor accused was taken to the government-run Sassoon Hospital after the accident for a medical examination, his blood sample was allegedly replaced with his mother’s.

The police then arrested seven people – the minor’s parents, Dr Ajay Aniruddha Taware, 48, former head of the Forensic Medicine Department of Sassoon Hospital, Dr Shrihari Bhimrao Halnor, 35, the casualty medical officer at the time, Atul Namdev Ghatkamble, 30, a morgue staff, and “middlemen” Ashpak Basha Makandar, 36, and Amar Santosh Gaikwad, 27.

On July 25, the police had filed a preliminary chargesheet of about 900 pages against the seven accused. Also, last month, police submitted the draft charge against seven accused on charges of tampering with evidence, forgery, criminal conspiracy and corruption.

Police said a DNA report on August 9 confirmed that blood samples of the two friends of the minor driver were also swapped at Sassoon hospital. Both friends, who too are minors, were in the Porsche at the time of the accident.

Police further arrested three more persons–fathers of both friends and another person in this case. Advocate Hiray said that a supplementary chargesheet is filed against the father (52 years) of a minor co-passenger for allegedly providing his blood sample to replace his son’s. Police filed a supplementary chargesheet against a 37-year-old businessman, who allegedly provided his blood for replacing it with blood sample of the second minor co-passenger as per the instructions of his father (a 47 year old businessman), who has been remanded to police custody till November 18.

Advocate Hiray said that the supplementary chargesheet includes DNA reports that confirm the alleged role of two accused in swapping blood samples.

Meanwhile, a probe by the Pune city police has revealed that an “office boy” of the second minor co-passenger’s father (47 year old businessman) had transferred money to the co-accused (37-year-old businessman), who gave his blood to be swapped. Police seized the cell phones of the 47 year old accused and his two employees for investigation.

According to the police, accused Makandar and Gaikwad allegedly acted as middlemen between the minor’s parents and the doctors at Sassoon Hospital. Police have recovered Rs 2.5 lakh from Dr Halnor and Rs 50,000 from Ghatkamble.

Police suspect that the minor co-passenger’s father has some information about the remaining Rs 1 lakh that is yet to be recovered.

On June 17, the police had submitted a “final report” before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) against the accused minor driver. On September 26, police filed the “supplementary final report” against him at the JJB.

A police officer said the final report has details right from the moment the boy left his home on the evening of May 18 to the accident at Kalyani Nagar on May 19. It has information about the CCTV footage obtained from the minor’s home and also from the two hotels where he allegedly consumed liquor. It also has statements from the minor’s friends and a driver who were present in the Porsche car at the time of the accident, as well as those who
attended a party with the boy before the crash.