Porsche crash case | Conclusive DNA proof to show mother’s blood taken instead of minor’s: Prosecution to court

Special Prosecutor Hiray said, “Today we opened the prosecution case under CrPC section 226. We submitted to the court what evidence we have against the 10 accused and based on that, what charges can be framed. I submitted that this was a major conspiracy in which all the 10 accused are involved. The conspiracy was to shield the inebriated CCL (Child in Conflict with the Law) and his co-passenger friends from any action by the court. And for this, the evidence was destroyed and fake evidence was fabricated. In this manner, a fraud was committed with the judiciary, which has been our argument from the beginning.” Section 226 of the Criminal Procedure Code pertains to the prosecutor opening the case by describing the charges brought against the accused and stating by what evidence prosecution proposes to prove the guilt of the accused.

Hiray added, “We explained to the court what evidence we have to prove this conspiracy. We have witness statements, technical evidence, scientific evidence, we have also recovered the money exchanged in the offence as part of the conspiracy and how the evidence established the role of each of the accused. For example we have established how money exchanged hands and how Sassoon doctors tampered with sample collection. We have DNA evidence conclusively proving that in the place of the CCL, his mother’s blood sample was taken. Also, how the blood sample of one co-passenger’s friend was swapped with that of his father, and another co-passenger’s sample was exchanged with that of a third person. We have also established the money trail for the swapping of blood samples of the co-passengers.”

He further said, We have submitted reports of the Test Identification Parade establishing the identities of the accused. We have submitted CCTV footages that place the accused at various locations during the conspiracy. We have also submitted reports of the handwriting experts. We have said that all 10 accused who were part of the conspiracy had the same intention. We have said that all 10 accused need not be at one place to hatch the conspiracy. We thus presented the entire landscape of the conspiracy to the court and requested that the charges be framed against these accused.”

Following the incident on May 19, police investigation unravelled alleged cover-ups, bribery, abuse of power, and tampering with blood samples at the government-run Sassoon General Hospital.

The fatal accident had taken place after the minor and his friends had celebrated their Class 12 exam results at a pub. The minor was allegedly driving a Porsche Taycan luxury car which did not have number plates. Other than the minor driver, the police have till now arraigned and chargesheeted a total of 10 accused. The 51-year-old realtor father and 50-year-old mother of the minor have been charged with criminal conspiracy for allegedly orchestrating a swap of the minor driver’s blood sample—collected at Sassoon Hospital—with the mother’s. Dr Ajay Taware, then head of the forensic medicine of Sassoon hospital, Dr Shrihari Halnor, then casualty medical officer; Atul Ghatkamble, a staffer at the hospital’s morgue; and Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, who acted as middlemen between the minor’s father and the doctors, have all been arraigned. Pune police have also arrested and charged a 37-year-old man who had given his blood to be swapped with that of a minor co-passenger and along with the father of that co-passenger. The 52-year-old father of another minor co-passenger, was also arrested earlier for giving his own blood sample to be swapped with his son.