Pune Porsche accident: Grandfather of teen driver, who fatally knocked down 2, arrested

Surendra Kumar Agarwal, the grandfather of the 17-year-old boy who allegedly fatally knocked down two IT professionals with his luxury Porsche car in Pune city, was arrested for “wrongful confinement” of their family driver, an official told news agency PTI on Saturday. The teenager’s father has also been named in the Pune Porsche accident case.

On Friday, Pune Police commissioner Amitesh Kumar claimed that an attempt was made to establish that the high-end car was not driven by the minor.

Based on a complaint by the juvenile’s family driver, the Yerawada Police registered a separate offence against the teen’s grandfather and father under IPC sections 365 (kidnapping with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine a person) and 368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping a person in confinement), he said.

“Post the accident, the teen’s grandfather and father allegedly took the driver’s phone, put him in confinement in his house on the premises of their bungalow from May 19 to May 20. The driver was freed by his wife,” PTI quoted the official from the crime branch as saying.

A Porsche, allegedly driven by the teenager, who the police claim was drunk at the time, killed two motorbike-borne software engineers – Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta – in Kalyani Nagar area of the city in the early hours of Sunday.

On Friday, a local court in Pune remanded the six accused arrested in the case, including the teenager’s father, in judicial custody. The teenager is in an observation home till June 5.

‘Attempt made to show teen was not driving Porsche: Pune top cop

Pune Police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said an attempt was made to establish that the Porsche car that knocked down and killed two persons in Kalyani Nagar area was not driven by a 17-year-old, and the driver employed by his family even tried to take responsibility. Two police officials were suspended for lapses committed during the probe.

Late on Friday evening, the probe was transferred to the crime branch from the Yerawada police station, where the initial case was registered.

The Madhya Pradesh-based parents of the two IT professionals who were killed in the accident on May 19 demanded that the Supreme Court monitor the probe and the trial be held in their state.

There was enough evidence showing that the teenager was driving the car, Amitesh Kumar told reporters. “We have the CCTV camera footage of him (juvenile) drinking liquor in the pub…..He was fully in his senses, he had full knowledge that due to his conduct, such an accident, where IPC section 304 is applicable, can happen,” Kumar said. Section 304 deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Was pizza served?

On reports of the juvenile being served pizza after the incident, Amitesh Kumar said “a pizza party didn’t happen in the police station”.

“But yes, something had happened on which we have initiated an internal investigation,” he added.

“During our investigation, it has clearly emerged that the juvenile was driving the car and we have already collected all the necessary chronological evidence. For example, when the juvenile left the house, the entry on the security register shows that he left with the car,” the police commissioner said.

What we know about the driver

The police said the driver employed by the teenager’s family was in the car. The police commissioner said attempts were made to show that he was at the wheel and not the teen when the vehicle fatally knocked down two persons on motorbike around 3am on Sunday.

After the accident, the driver initially claimed he was driving the car, the commissioner said, adding, “Why and under whose pressure he said that will be disclosed at an appropriate time.”

The commissioner conceded that while the juvenile was sent to Sassoon General Hospital around 9am on Sunday, his blood samples were collected at 11am, but maintained that “blood report is not the pillar of our case”.

As a matter of abundant precaution, another sample was collected in the evening around 7 or 8 pm for “DNA sampling”, he added. The reports were yet to be received, PTI reported.

In the initial FIR, section 304 A (death by negligence) was applied but it was revised with section 304 the same day as the crime warranted that (more serious) section, Kumar said. He said that there were complaints that some eyewitnesses were pressured.

After the accident, the minor was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board which granted him bail while asking him to write a 300-word essay. Following an outcry over quick bail and the police’s review plea, the board on Wednesday remanded the teen, son of real estate developer Vishal Agarwal, to the observation home till June 5.

The police arrested the teen for “exposing a child to danger”, and the owner and employees of two bars where the teen had consumed alcohol for “serving liquor to an underage person”.

On Friday, the prosecution sought the extension of their police custody, but the sessions court remanded all six accused in judicial custody till June 7. They are expected to file bail pleas next week.

What victims’ parents said

Parents of Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 24-year-old IT professionals who died in the June 19 accident, said they will not rest till they got justice. Suresh Kumar Koshta, Ashwini’s father, told reporters in Jabalpur that the Supreme Court should monitor the investigation and trial. “I am going to fight for justice till my last breath,” Anish’s father Om Prakash Awadhiya said over the phone.

The trial should be held in Madhya Pradesh and not in Pune, he demanded.