Pune Porsche crash | Attempts made to show minor was not driving: Police commissioner

Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar on Friday (May 24) said that attempts were made to project that the 17-year-old minor who allegedly crashed his Porsche car into a motorbike killing two persons was not at the wheel at the time of the accident.

Addressing a press conference in Pune, Kumar said attempts were made to show that an adult (the family driver) was driving the car and not the teen when the vehicle fatally knocked down two IT professionals – Aneesh Awadhiya (24) and Ashwini Koshta (25) in the city’s Kalyani Nagar area around 3 am on Sunday (May 19).

Who pressured family driver?

After the accident, the teenager was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board which granted him bail while asking him to write a 300-word essay.

Following an outcry over quick bail and the police's review plea, the JJB on Wednesday remanded the teen, son of real estate developer Vishal Agarwal, to the observation home till June 5. The police have also arrested the teenager’s father.

“It is true that at the start the driver had said that he was driving the car. We are investigating this part and also under whose pressure the driver made that statement we are investigating it. Effort was made to change the driver during that period. We are investigating this also,” Kumar said.

“We are investigating these things and will take action against those who made such attempts, under section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC,” he added.

'Cash offered to driver to take blame'

A report on NDTV citing Pune Police sources said that soon after the accident, the parents of the accused teenager asked their family driver to take blame in exchange for cash.

The city police chief told reporters that an internal inquiry has pointed to lapses on the part of some cops while registering the case and action will be taken against them.

“During our investigation, it has clearly emerged that the juvenile was driving the car and we have already collected all the necessary chronological evidence. For example, when the juvenile left the house, the entry on the security register shows that he left the house with the car,” he said.

On the basis of technical and CCTV evidence, it is confirmed that the car was being driven by the juvenile, the police chief said. Eyewitnesses have also corroborated that the teenager was behind the wheel at the time of the accident, he said.

Delay in taking blood samples

Asked about the blood samples, Kumar said the juvenile was sent to Sassoon Hospital around 9 am on Sunday after an offence was registered. “There was a delay in taking blood samples as they were collected at 11 pm but the blood report is not the pillar of our case,” he admitted.

He said a case has been registered under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and the juvenile was fully aware that driving in an inebriated condition would lead to this kind of offence and people’s lives would be lost.

He also said special counsels will be appointed to aggressively put forth the police side in court.

(With inputs from agencies)