Pune car crash: Teenager’s father, grandfather remanded to 14-day judicial custody

Pune: A local court in Pune on Friday remanded the father and grandfather of the minor involved in the Porsche case in judicial custody for 14 days over their roles in the alleged kidnapping and wrongful confinement of their driver.

Real estate developer Vishal Agarwal and his father were produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) A A Pande at the end of their police remand.

According to the police, the driver was with the juvenile in the Porsche when the luxury car hit a two-wheeler killing two software engineers in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area on May 19.

The father-son duo allegedly threatened the driver to take the blame for the accident. They allegedly kidnapped him and illegally confined him to their house. The driver’s wife freed him from the servant quarter at the bungalow of the accused in the Vadgaon Sheri area.

The prosecution sought extension of police remand citing that there is a progress in the case with “recovery of the phone and a car used in the commission of crime”. It said their further custody was needed as the accused were not cooperating in the case.

The defence Counsel objected to the demand for police custody, arguing that the prosecution had already got enough time to probe into the case. Since they have already recovered the car, phone and also CCTV footage, there is no need of further police custody, he contended.

After hearing both sides, the judge sent the accused to judicial custody for 14 days.

While the juvenile has been sent to an observation home till June 5, the case acquired a new dimension after police said his blood samples were swapped at the Sassoon General Hospital to show that he was not drunk at the time of the accident.

Police have arrested Dr Ajay Taware, then head of the department of forensic medicine at Sassoon hospital, medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor and employee Atul Ghatkamble for allegedly manipulating the minor’s blood samples.