Pune Porsche car accident case: Police arrest accused juvenile's mother; police probe teen at juvenile home in her presence

The Pune police on Saturday arrested the mother of the juvenile involved in the Porsche car accident case. This action follows confirmation that the blood samples of the juvenile were substituted with those of his mother, as stated by the city's police chief.

Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar said the accident investigation has revealed that the juvenile's blood samples were replaced with those of his mother.

As part of their probe, the police also spoke to the minor for about an hour at the observation home, where he has been sent till June 5, in his mother's presence.

Police had told a local court two days ago that the blood samples of the juvenile were exchanged with those of a woman.

In the early hours of May 19, two IT professionals lost their lives in Kalyani Nagar, Pune, following a collision with a Porsche allegedly driven by an inebriated minor. The 17-year-old suspect has been placed in an observation home. Additionally, the minor's father, Vishal Agarwal, a realtor, and his grandfather, Surendra Agarwal, have been apprehended on charges of allegedly kidnapping the family's driver and coercing him to accept responsibility for the incident.

A court on Friday remanded the minor's father and grandfather in judicial custody for 14 days after their police custody ended.

Dr Ajay Taware, then head of the department of forensic medicine at Sassoon General Hospital, medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor and employee Atul Ghatkamble for allegedly manipulating the minor's blood samples to show that he was not drunk at the time of the accident.

As per the police, about a dozen calls were exchanged between Vishal Agarwal and Dr Ajay Taware, one of the arrested doctors, while samples were being collected for testing for alcohol consumption.

“The police found that Dr Ajay Taware was on leave on the night of the Pune accident and he got a call from someone. He accepted Rs 3 lakh, called Dr Halnor to manipulate the blood samples," Maharashtra minister Hasan Mushrif had said on Friday.

Police on Friday moved an application for Vishal Agarwal's custody in connection with the alleged switching of the blood samples.

Meanwhile, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) has allowed police to investigate the minor allegedly involved in the Porsche crash. Under the Juvenile Justice Act, the inquiry of a minor has to be conducted in the parents' presence.

The JJB granted bail to the teenager, son of real estate developer Vishal Agarwal, a few hours after the May 19 crash and asked him to write a 300-word essay on road safety. Amid a nationwide outcry, police again approached the JJB, which modified the order and sent him to the observation home till June 5.

After the bail was given to the juvenile by a single member of the JJ Board, the Maharashtra government set up a committee to probe the conduct of the state-appointed members of JJB and check if norms were followed while issuing orders in the Pune car crash case.

The committee, headed by a deputy commissioner, will submit its report by next week, Prashant Narnavare, commissioner of the Women and Child Department, had said earlier.

With inputs from PTI