Pune Porsche crash: Attempts made to tamper with ‘secret’ second sample of minor driver at Aundh hospital, prosecution informs court

The Indian Express reported earlier that the DNA analysis of the second sample taken at the Aundh hospital had unearthed a major criminal conspiracy involving the senior doctors at Sassoon General Hospital and the parents of the minor driver and others in the aftermath of the Porsche crash on May 19.

Two IT engineers, Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, were killed after the speeding Porsche, allegedly driven by an inebriated 17-year-old boy from a Pune realtor family, rammed into their motorcycle at Kalyani Nagar junction. Police investigation unravelled alleged cover-ups, bribery, abuse of power, and tampering of blood samples at the government-run Sassoon General Hospital.

An officer from the Crime Branch of the Pune police, who is closely associated with the probe, said, “Under the Criminal Procedure Code section 173(8), which allows further investigation in the case after chargesheet has been filed, we have submitted to the court some importants findings in the form of an investigation note and supporting documents and records. These findings and supporting records show that the father and mother of the minor driver and middleman Ashpak Makandar had gone to the district hospital in Aundh when the minor was taken there to collect a second blood sample in the evening on May 19, 2024, by the police team.”

“At the district hospital in Aundh, these accused again made an attempt to tamper with the blood sample. While the sample was supposed to be taken secretly, family members still learned about it, as some of them were at the Yerawada police station in the aftermath of the accident. As the parents and middleman made attempts to tamper with the blood sample, the doctors at the Aundh hospital refused to do so,” the officer added.

As reported earlier, the first blood sample of the minor was taken around 11 am at Sassoon General Hospital on May 19, 2024, in the hours after the accident. Due to certain inputs regarding possible tampering, the police requested another sample collection at 6 pm, which was taken at the Aundh hospital. On May 20, 2024, the swabs from these two samples were sent to a state-run forensics facility for DNA analysis.

On May 21, 2024, after the father of the minor was arrested, the police sent his sample for DNA analysis. The reports of the DNA analysis of these three samples were received five days later, and they suggested that the father of the minor was not related to the Sassoon swab. It also came to light later that the sample taken at the Sassoon General Hospital was that of the mother of the minor driver.

On June 27 this year, Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray opened the prosecution case under CrPC section 226. He submitted to the court the evidence they have against the 10 accused and what charges can be framed against them.

The accident occurred after the minor and his friends celebrated their Class 12 exam results at a pub on the intervening night of May 18-19, 2024. 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 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 allegedly acted as middlemen between the minor’s father and the doctors, have all been arraigned.

The Pune police also arrested and charged a 37-year-old man who had allegedly given his blood to be swapped with that of a minor co-passenger, along with the father of that co-passenger. The 52-year-old father of another minor co-passenger was also arrested earlier for allegedly giving his blood sample to be swapped with his son.