Pune Porsche crash case: 14 calls between doctor held for switching sample, father of accused, says police

According to the police probe, the minor’s sample was discarded in a dustbin and another person’s blood sample was sent in its place for tests to detect presence of alcohol.

After arresting them, police searched premises linked to Dr Taware as well as Dr Shrihari Halnor, a Casualty Medical Officer, and Atul Ghatkamble, who worked in the hospital morgue. They recovered Rs 2.5 lakh from Dr Halnor and Rs 50,000 from Ghatkamble.

Technical team from Porsche company checking the car at Yerwada police station on Monday. (Express photo)

“The amounts recovered from Halnor and Ghatkamble are believed to be the cuts they received. But the key focus of the investigation is now the financial transactions of Dr Taware, how much he received or was promised and by whom,” said a senior police officer.

“Another key aspect is the blood sample which they replaced the minor’s sample with. Our probe suggests that it was Dr Taware’s idea to change the sample, to tamper with the blood alcohol concentration test to scuttle the probe.”

On Tuesday evening, police conducted more searches at Dr Taware’s residence in the Pune Camp area.

Another police officer said, “The minor’s blood sample was collected at Sassoon Hospital around 11 am on May 19. An analysis of the call detail records suggests that in the two hours prior to that, as many as 14 calls were exchanged between Dr Taware and the minor’s father. These calls were made on WhatsApp, FaceTime and also on standard cellular connection.”

“Details of these calls have been obtained in the technical analysis as part of the probe. We are also investigating how the father got connected to Taware in the first place and whether there was anyone else who mediated between them,” the officer said.

As reported by The Indian Express, the sample switch was detected as police had got a second sample collected from the minor later at the District Hospital in Aundh after getting intelligence inputs that there may be tampering attempts with the Sassoon Hospital sample. Both samples were sent to a state-run forensics facility on May 20. A day later, the minor’s father was arrested and his sample was also sent for DNA analysis.

The reports of the DNA analysis suggested that the minor’s father was unrelated to the Sassoon swab, while the swab from the Aundh hospital matched him.

Although the minor’s second sample returned negative for alcohol, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar has attributed it to the 20-hour time gap between the accident and the sample collection.

After Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta were killed in the pre-dawn crash on May 19, the FIR against the minor was lodged around 8 am at Yerwada Police Station. He was then taken to Sassoon Hospital where his blood sample was drawn around 11 am. The second sample was collected around 6 pm.

For prosecution of the three Sassoon Hospital employees, police are in the process of obtaining two separate sanctions from the state government — one under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to prosecute public servants and another under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act to prosecute them for bribery.

On Monday, a court remanded the three accused in police custody until May 30.

The minor’s father, who had earlier been arrested, has also been named as an accused for the blood sample switch. The police are expected to seek his custody in this connection.