Supreme Court grants bail to three accused in 2024 Pune Porsche crash case

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to three accused in 2024 Pune Porsche crash case, that claimed two lives. The SC observed that parents are to be blamed in such incidents involving juveniles.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that parents are not able to control their children, and giving them car keys is unacceptable.

"Substance abuse is another thing but giving them (children) car keys and funds to have a gala time is unacceptable," the court observed.

On May 19, 2024, a 17-year-old boy who was under the influence of alcohol, was driving Porsche and hit two IT professionals in Kalyani Nagar area of Pune.

On January 23, the top court sought a response from the Maharashtra government on a plea filed by accused Amar Santish Gaikwad seeking bail in the case.

Gaikwad represented by advocate Sana Raees Khan was alleged to be a middleman, who gave Rs 3 lakh to the assistant of a doctor in a hospital to replace a blood sample of the juvenile accused.

On January 7, the top court sought a response from the Maharashtra government on pleas filed by two other accused seeking bail in the case.

Aditya Avinash Sood (52) and Ashish Satish Mittal (37) represented by senior advocates Siddharth Dave and Siddharth Agarwal were arrested on August 19 last year, as their blood samples were used for tests in connection with two minors who were in the car along with the 17-year-old main accused at the time of the accident.

The high court on December 16 last year rejected the bail pleas of eight accused, including Gaikwad, Sood and Mittal, in the case.

The minor was granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), on conditions of writing a 300 words essay on road safety.

As bail to the accused juvenile triggered outrage, the Pune police approached the JJB to review its decision. The board then modified the order and sent the juvenile to an observation home. In June, the high court ordered the release of the juvenile.

(With PTI inputs)