Porsche crash case: After SC bail to father of driver, police say focus on speedy trial, conviction

“Mother, father of the accused driver, the Sassoon doctors have been behind bars for several months. Now our focus will be to ensure speedy trial and ensure conviction to the accused persons. Very strong evidence has been collected and presented to the court which will ensure conviction. We also want to ensure justice to the victims and their families. Our thoughts and prayers are always with them,” he added.

At 2.30 am on May 19, 2024, two young IT engineers – Awadhiya and Koshta, both 24 and both from Madhya Pradesh – were killed when a speeding Porsche Taycan, allegedly driven by the inebriated teen who was 17-and-a-half-year-old at the time, rammed into their motorcycle at Kalyani Nagar junction. What police investigation unravelled after that was alleged cover-ups, bribery, abuse of power, and tampering blood samples at the government-run Sassoon General Hospital. Of the total 10 accused arraigned and arrested by the Pune city police, eight have been granted bail till now. These include the realtor father of the driver who was granted bail by apex court on Tuesday.

As the investigation unfolded, the police had arrested the minor’s 51-year-old realtor father and 50-year-old mother, 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. These accused have been charged with tampering evidence, forgery, criminal conspiracy and corruption for swapping of blood samples. 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. Among these 10 accused, except Halnor and Ghatkamble, all have been granted bail.

The then minor driver has been arraigned at the Juvenile Justice Board where he faces charges of culpable homicide among others. The Pune Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) had on July 15 last year rejected the city’s police plea to try the then minor accused driver as an adult.