Pune Porsche crash: Minor’s father, grandfather get bail in family driver’s kidnapping case ; latter to be released from jail

Representing the two, advocate Prashant Patil said, “My clients shall cooperate with the investigation agency for the probe of the matter and shall abide by the conditions of the Honourable Court.”

On Tuesday, Hinjewadi police took custody of the father from Yerawada Central Prison for a probe into a case registered against him in which he was charged for cheating and criminal breach of trust of 72 flat owners of a residential project in Bavdhan.

When contacted, Senior Inspector Kanhaiyya Thorat, Hinjewadi police station incharge, confirmed they took custody of the minor’s father. “The court has granted us a two-day police custody,” Thorat said.

Two IT engineers Aneesh Awadhiya and his friend Ashwini Koshta, both 24 years old and from Madhya Pradesh, were killed after a speeding Porsche car, allegedly driven by a 17-and-a-half-year-old boy in an inebriated state, hit their motorcycle at Pune’s Kalyani Nagar junction around 2.30 am on May 19.

Police had said there were four more persons in the car other than the minor driver that included his friends and a driver employed by his family. Based on a complaint filed by the 42-year-old driver, the police had lodged a first information report (FIR) of kidnapping and wrongful confinement against the minor’s father and grandfather, who head family owned realty firm in Pune.

As per the FIR, after the accident, the grandfather of the minor boy allegedly kidnapped the driver and took him to their bungalow on the intervening night of May 19 and May 20. Here the minor’s grandfather and father allegedly confined the driver and forced him to take the blame for the Porsche car accident. They also promised the driver a reward if he told the police that he was driving the Porsche.

Police had arrested the grandfather on May 25 and father on May 27 in this case under Indian Penal Code sections related to kidnapping, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation. Through their lawyer Prashant Patil, the two had applied for bail on June 4. The crime branch, in its say opposing the bail applications, had said the father and grandfather might threaten the witnesses, tamper with evidence and run away from the country if they are released on bail.

Six FIRs have been filed against the 50-year-old father of the minor since the May 19 crash, including the three related to the accident. Of the three related to the accident, he has now been granted bail in two, with the third being the one in which he stands accused with the minor’s mother for swapping the blood samples. The three other cases are registered at Hinjewadi, Kondhwa and Chandan Nagar police stations.

In the Hinjewadi case, the father has been charged with cheating and criminal breach of trust of 72 flat owners.

This FIR was filed on June 10 by one of the flat owners in the residential project in Bavdhan constructed by the real estate company of the family of the minor. The police have booked five persons including the father, two of his relatives and two more linked to the business in addition to other possible unidentified suspects. The residential project was completed in 2007. The FIR states that the company had agreed to provide some amenities to the residents parking and open space. In contravention of the terms, the company had developed a total of three residential projects by altering the maps of the project.