Porsche crash: Arguments on trying minor as adult postponed as documents at JJB sent to Principal District, Session Judge

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

Same day, a first information report (FIR) was lodged against the minor driver at the Yerwada police station. Police detained the minor and later filed an application at the JJB that he be tried as an adult.

Meanwhile, the police investigation revealed that when the minor accused was taken to Sassoon Hospital after the accident for a medical examination, his blood sample was allegedly replaced with his mother’s.

Police then arrested seven persons including the parents of the minor boy, Dr Ajay Taware, the then head of the Forensic Medicine department of Sassoon hospital, Dr Shrihari Halnor, the casualty medical officer (CMO) at the time, and Atul Ghatkamble, a morgue staff, and private persons Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad.

According to the police, Makandar and Gaikwad allegedly acted as “middledmen” between the minor’s parents and doctors at Sassoon hospital. Police said Makandar allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from the minor’s father at a hotel in Kalyani Nagar and gave it to the Sassoon staffers for changing blood samples. Police said they have recovered Rs 2.5 lakh from Dr Halnor and Rs 50,000 from Ghatkamble. The remaining Rs 1 lakh is yet to be recovered.

The police filed a “final report” against the minor at the JJB on June 17. Police also submitted a “supplementary final report” against him on September 26. The final report, according to the police, has information about the CCTV footage obtained from the minor’s residence, and also from the two hotels where he allegedly consumed liquor with his friends before the accident.

A DNA report on August 9 confirmed that blood samples of the two friends of the minor were also swapped at Sassoon hospital. Both the friends, who too are minors, were in the Porsche at the time of the accident.

Police booked fathers of both friends and a private person in this case. One of them was arrested for allegedly giving his blood sample to replace it with his son’s. Blood sample of the second friend was allegedly swapped with that of a private person as per the instructions of his father. The private person was arrested, while the father filed an application seeking anticipatory bail from Bombay high court, police said.