Pune Porsche crash: Prosecution begins arguments for framing charges against 10 accused

Pune: The prosecution on Friday began its arguments for framing charges against 10 accused in the Pune Porsche car crash case and asserted it had conclusive DNA evidence with regards to swapping of blood samples.

In the early hours of May 19 last year, IT professionals Anish Awadhiya and his friend Ashwini Costa were killed in Kalyani Nagar after their motorcycle was hit by a Porsche car allegedly driven by a juvenile in an inebriated condition.

The case hit national headlines after police unearthed attempts at a massive cover-up, including replacing the blood samples of the juvenile with that of his mother to negate alcohol tests.

Evidence has been collected against all 10 accused and charges should be framed based on this material, Special Public Prosecutor Advocate Shishir Hiray told court.

The 10 accused comprise the juvenile's father and mother, Sassoon Hospital doctors Ajay Taware and Shrihari Halnor and staffers Atul Ghatkamble, middlemen Bashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad as well as Aditya Avinash Sood, Ashish Mittal, and Arun Kumar Singh. While the juvenile's mother is out on bail, the remaining nine are in jail.

"The accused tampered with evidence to mislead the judiciary. All 10 accused, including the juvenile's parents, are equally involved in the conspiracy. The conspiracy was aimed at protecting the inebriated juvenile and his co-passengers from legal consequences. To do so, evidence was fabricated. In this manner, fraud was committed on the judiciary," Hiray told court.

The prosecution has the statements of witnesses as well as scientific and technical evidence to prove the conspiracy and even the money exchanged in the offence related to the swapping of blood samples has been recovered, he told court.

"We have DNA evidence that conclusively proves the juvenile's blood sample was replaced with that of his mother. Similarly, the blood sample of one co-passenger's friend was replaced with that of his father, and another co-passenger's sample was swapped with that of a third person," Hiray said in his arguments.

Hiray told PTI later that reports of the Test Identification Parade identifying the accused, CCTV footage placing them at various locations during the conspiracy, and handwriting analysis reports have been submitted.

"All 10 accused had the same intent, and it is not necessary that they were all present at the same location to hatch the conspiracy. The prosecution has urged the court to frame charges against all 10 accused jointly and individually under all applicable sections, as they are equally complicit in the offence," he said.

The defence will begin arguments on framing of charges on July 2.