Pune Porsche crash accused's mother arrested for tampering with evidence

In the latest development in Pune’s high-profile drunk-driving case, the police have arrested the mother of the teen, accused of killing two IT professionals with his Porsche on May 19. 

Shivani Agarwal was arrested on May 31 after it was confirmed that his son’s blood was swapped with hers, the Pune police chief said.

Earlier, the police told a local court that the blood samples of the teen were exchanged with those of a woman to show that he was not drunk at the time of the accident.

While the CCTV footage procured from the restaurants clearly showed the minor drinking a few hours before the accident, the initial forensics report showed no sign of alcohol, which raised suspicion.

After this, a second blood test was conducted at a different hospital in which the DNA tests confirmed the samples were from two different individuals.

Agarwal had been absconding since the arrest of Dr Shrihari Halnor, and Dr Ajay Tawade of state-run Sasson hospital on charges of evidence destruction by throwing the 17-year-old’s blood sample into a dustbin and switching it with another individual’s.

The minor is accused of killing two techies in Pune's Kalyani Nagar after his Porsche, allegedly being driven by him in a drunken state, rammed into their two-wheeler.

Reportedly, the teen’s mother was traced after she came to Pune from Mumbai on Friday night. She is likely to be produced in court today.

Currently, the accused is in an observation home, while his father and grandfather have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping the family's driver and putting pressure on him to take the blame.

The investigation has revealed the influential family tried hard to cover up the crime. Initially, they tried to bribe their family driver and convince him to take the blame for the accident. When he denied it, they kidnapped him and kept forcing him to confess.

The accused’s mother had earlier released a video message in which she made an emotional appeal to the cops to protect her son. 

Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Kostha, 24-year-old engineers from Madhya Pradesh, lost their lives in the accident.

The teen accused of killing them had earlier got bail within 15 hours on what can be described as flimsy conditions. He was asked to write a 300-word essay, told to work with traffic cops for 15 days and seek treatment for his drinking habit.

However, after severe backlash, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) cancelled his bail and sent the teen to an observation home till June 5. The decision on the police plea for permission to try him as an adult is awaited.