Pune city police has filed a 900-page preliminary chargesheet against seven accused, including the parents of the prime accused in the May 19 Porsche car accident case, more than two months after the fatal crash.
On May 19, a 17-year-old boy, son of a high-profile realtor, was allegedly driving his Porsche in a drunken state when he hit a motorcycle carrying two IT engineers at Pune’s Kalyani Nagar junction around 2.30 am, killing them both on the spot.
Aneesh Awadhiya and his friend Ashwini Koshta, both 24 years old and from Madhya Pradesh, died in the accident. The teenager was just four months short of his 18th birthday at the time of the accident. His driver was allegedly with him when the accident happened.
The same day, an FIR was lodged against the minor at the Yerwada police station under sections 304, 304 (a), 337, 338, 427, 279 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 184, 119/177 of the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA).
However, the chargesheet, submitted on July 25 in a sessions court, does not include the prime accused as his case is being handled separately by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).
After a preliminary investigation, police arrested seven persons in the case, including the parents of the minor boy, Dr Ajay Taware, Dr Shrihari Harnol, Atul Ghatkamble, Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad.
"We have filed a 900-page chargesheet against seven accused, including the parents of the minor, two doctors and a staffer from Sassoon General Hospital and two middlemen, in a Pune court on Thursday," said Shailesh Balkawade, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime).
The preliminary chargesheet comprises statements of about 50 witnesses, forensic lab reports, technical evidence, a crash impact assessment report and other investigation papers, said the ACP.
“Focus is on technical evidence. Investigation into the case is going on and we will be filing a secondary chargesheet against the accused in due course of time,” the officer was quoted as saying.
Soon after the accident, various efforts were made by the minor's family to mislead the investigation, including tampering with the evidence and coercing the driver to commit the crime.
Police found that when the accused minor was taken to Sassoon Hospital after the accident for a medical examination, his blood sample was allegedly replaced with his mother’s.
The former head of the forensic department of Sassoon Hospital Dr Taware, the casualty medical officer at the time Dr Harnol, and a Class IV employee Atul Ghatkamble, were found to be allegedly involved in changing the minor’s blood sample by taking financial favors.
The police filed an FIR under IPC sections 120 b (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery), 201 (destruction of evidence), 213 (taking gift or something else to screen an offender from punishment), and 214 (offering gift or restoration of property to screen an offender) and sections 7, 7 A, 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, in this case.
Following this, a second blood test was conducted at a different hospital in which the DNA tests confirmed the samples were from two other individuals.
In June, the police submitted the final report to the JJB detailing all evidence against the minor in the car crash.
While the boy's parents are still in jail, he was released from an observation home in Pune following a Bombay High Court order late last month.
While granting him bail, the court had remarked that regardless of how terrible the offense was, the court had to treat the minor — who was about to turn 18 in four months — like any other child in conflict with the law and in accordance with the goals and objectives of the Juvenile Justice Act (JJA).
The accused submitted an essay on road safety and their solutions to the JJB, as a part of the conditions set by the JJB while granting him bail initially.
The JJB's May 19 order, signed by non-judicial member Dr L.N. Danawade, set the conditions for bail, including the submission of the essay, study of traffic rules at the RTO, and undergoing de-addiction counseling. The minor was required to comply with these conditions within 15 days.
A second FIR was lodged on May 20 against the minor’s father and six others which included the managers of two restaurants in Pune where the minor and his friends were allegedly served alcohol before the accident. All accused in this FIR were granted bail by the court.
A complaint was also filed by the 42-year-old driver, based on which a third FIR of kidnapping and wrongful confinement was filed against the minor’s father and grandfather.
Police had arrested the grandfather and father of the minor for allegedly kidnapping and coercing the driver to take the blame for the car accident; both were later granted bail by the court.
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