Pune car crash: ‘Owner of a Porsche claims to use basic Nokia phone…difficult to believe,’ police tell court, get remand of accused till May 24

Sleuths of Pune Police’s Crime Branch submitted to the court on Wednesday that the minor’s father had fled the city soon after an offence was registered against him and had gone incommunicado. The investigators traced him to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad) and brought him to Pune, the Crime Branch told the court.

“He is not being honest. Soon after the accident when he was called by police, he claimed to be in Shirdi when he was in fact in Pune. Later, he fled to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar where he was traced by us and brought to Pune. He seemed to have hidden his smartphone and claims that he uses a basic Nokia phone. It’s difficult to believe that a man who owns a Porsche would only have a phone that costs Rs 800,” said inspector Mane in the court of special judge S P Ponkshe while seeking a seven-day remand.

He further said that the SIM card in the Nokia phone was bought on May 19, thus strongly hinting that the new phone and the SIM card were bought to mislead the probe.

“It’s important to get possession of the phone of the father to gauge the calls made during the relevant period,” submitted the inspector.

The police and the prosecution claimed that the father put the minor boy’s life at risk by giving him the car to drive and also by allowing him to go to bars fully knowing that he is a minor and is not allowed to consume alcohol.

Meanwhile, defence lawyer Prashant Patil claimed that Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act can only be applied if the parent has wilfully harmed the kids or if they are abandoned or neglected. He submitted that in the case in hand, the father had appointed a driver who was in the car as a precaution. “Hence it can’ be said that there was neglect on part of the father,” submitted Patil.

Jayesh Gaokar, 23, the barman at restaurant Blak, through his lawyer submitted that as a barman he does not interact with customers and his job is to prepare the orders and hand them over to the service staff.

Nitesh Shevani, 34, who is in-charge of the front desk and as per the police should have checked the age of the entrants before allowing them entry into the bar area, through his lawyer said, “Interrogating the accused is not going to serve any purpose as the bar has been sealed by authorities and my client has nothing in his possession.”

Judge Ponkshe said in her order that the offence is of a serious nature as two lives have been lost. She also observed that although sections of the Juvenile Justice Act are bailable, Section 199A of the Motor Vehicle Act dealing with the transfer of the guilt of a juvenile on the parent in case of an offence is not bailable.

“Considering the entire crime, at this stage, when separation of the roles of offence can’t be done, all three are sent to police remand till May 24,” said Justice Ponkshe.