 "Driver, pizza and more: How the Pune Porsche case is getting more complicated")
The Pune teen’s case, in which he is accused of killing two people early on Sunday by speeding his father’s Rs 2.5 crore Porsche supercar while drunk, continues to dominate headlines.
As the investigation goes on, more startling information comes to light.
According to recent reports, there is an attempt to frame a driver rather than the alleged 17-year-old, who is currently in remand home .
The son of a well-known city builder may have received preferential treatment in the hours after the incident, and other potential procedure lapses are being looked into by the Pune police.
Let’s take a closer look.
‘Parents told driver to take blame’
Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said on Friday that in order to keep the youngster out of trouble, an attempt was made to exchange drivers shortly after the accident.
“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 during a press conference.
He denied claims that the driver was operating the expensive vehicle and claimed to have video evidence proving that the 17-year-old was driving the car.
According to an NDTV report citing Pune Police sources, the accused’s parents asked the driver to accept responsibility in exchange for money shortly after the crash.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“We have CCTV footage of him drinking liquor in the pub. The point of saying this is that our case is not alone; depending on the blood report, we have other evidence also. He (the minor accused) was in his senses. It was not as if all of them were so drunk that they could not understand anything. They had full knowledge that due to their conduct, an incident like section 304 cab happen,” the Pune Commissioner said.
This follows the accused minor’s recent claims that the vehicle was driven by his family driver when the crash occurred. The claim was backed by his two friends who were with him at the time of the incident. The minor’s father Vishal Agarwal, who is currently in police custody, also said their family driver was behind the wheel.
According to PTI, the police, while seeking the custody of the minor’s father, had told the court on Wednesday that as the juvenile wanted to drive the car, the driver called his employer (minor’s father) and told him about his son’s demand and it was his dad who told the driver to let his son drive the car.
The officer said that the driver may be presented in court as a witness in the case.
Also read: Teen accused in Pune Porsche crash sent to remand home. What happens next?
Pizza, burger for the accused teen
The Opposition parties have claimed that the accused minor was given preferential treatment while he was in police custody following the stomach-churning accident.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief and two-time ex-Lok Sabha MP Prakash Ambedkar claimed on X, “Officers at Yerwada Police Station spent more time questioning the relationship between Anish and Ashwini - IT professionals fatally knocked down by drunk minor -while the accused was allegedly served burger and pizza.”
He also posed six questions to the police, including the eight-hour delay in administering a blood alcohol test and why the boy wasn’t sent to a remand home immediately.
According to MoneyControl, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also lashed out at Pune Police by saying, “Pune Police aided a wealthy teenager who killed two young individuals… Why are you serving him pizza and burgers? A video has now surfaced showing the boy consuming alcohol. Everyone knew the truth, yet they still assisted him."
He further called for the dismissal of Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar and accused an MLA from Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction of being present at the police station and assisting the accused.
Investigating potential lapses
While preparing a case for the minor, while he is in remand home, the Pune Police are also investigating potential lapses in protocol.
According to another report by NDTV, Assistant Commissioner of Police Ashwini Rakh will be questioning officers and staff at the Yerwada police station where the complaint was first filed.
The police will look into the allegations of downplaying in the first write-ups the terrible circumstances surrounding the incident and postponing the medical examination that was necessary to determine the boy’s blood alcohol content and the claims that the police were more focused on “investigating” the deaths of Ashwini Koshta and Aneesh Awadhiya, two 24-year-old software workers, than the accused.
The accused’s grandfather, driver, and friend questioned
The Pune police on Thursday questioned the grandfather of the 17-year-old boy while a forensic team examined the Porsche car involved in the accident.
The minor’s one friend and the former’s driver who were accompanying him in the car when the accident occurred in the Kalyani Nagar area, were also questioned by the crime branch officials who are probing the case.
The accused’s grandfather and his son, Vishal Agarwal, were confronted as some facts related to the case needed to be corroborated, the official said.
“Since the luxury car is in the name of the realty firm owned by the Agarwals, the grandfather of the minor, who is one of the owners of the firm, was questioned in regards to the ownership of the car,” he said, as per PTI.
The case
A Porsche car, allegedly driven by the minor accused, who the police claim was drunk at the time, fatally knocked down two motorbike-borne software engineers at Kalyani Nagar in the city in the early hours of Sunday.
The teenager was sent to the observation home by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Wednesday.
The police have already arrested the teenager’s father and his phone was also seized.
The police are collecting CCTV footage of the entire route through which the car traversed – from residence to Cosie restaurant, then to Blak Club and from there to the accident spot, to see who was driving the car.
A forensic team also examined the Porsche car which was involved in the accident.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Medha Kulkarni posted on X saying that the accident showed the Juvenile Justice Act needs to be reviewed as so-called minors like this boy are using the law to get away with serious crimes.
With inputs from PTI
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