A number of questions have emerged on whether there were attempts to shield the accused in the Pune Porsche accident case, especially when it comes to the presence of a local MLA at the police station on the fateful night and a much-delayed blood alcohol test.
The case sparked national outrage after the 17-year-old, who is accused of running over two software engineers, was granted bail only hours later on relatively easy terms. Allegations of leniency by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) is another aspect in the case, even as the victims’ parents termed their children’s deaths “murder” and called for strict action against the juvenile accused and his parents.
The victims, Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwani Koshta, were killed after the teenager crashed his luxury car into their motorcycle around 2.30 am on May 19. After an outcry over quick bail, however, the accused was remanded to an observation home till June 5 following another order of the JJB. His father, prominent real estate developer Vishal Agarwal, is also in custody since May 21.
‘Asked police to take action as per law’
What transpired immediately after the incident raises questions on how the police handled the case in the crucial hours. According to reports, local MLA Sunil Tingre received a call from Agarwal less than an hour after the incident and he arrived at the Yerawada police station, where the teen was taken.
He, however, insisted this was not to pressure the police. In fact, he clarified his stand through a statement the day after the incident, giving details of why he was present.
“Even though I have nothing to do with this unfortunate accident, wrong and defamatory information has been spread about me on social media since yesterday. I ignored this at the beginning, but when I realised that the opposition is trying to take advantage of it, I felt it necessary to clarify my position regarding yesterday’s incident,” he said on May 20, while condoling the deaths and hoping for strict action against those responsible.
In his statement, Tingre said his workers called him at 3 am to inform him about the accident in his constituency. At 3.20 am, he received a call from his “acquaintance” Vishal Agarwal, who told him that his son had met with an accident and was being beaten up by a mob.
He rushed to the accident site and then went to the Yerawada police station and, on inquiry, found out that two people had been killed in the accident. He said even Agarwal found out about the deaths only after he met him and told him about the severity of the case.
Tingre further said the inspector at the police station told him the entire sequence of events, and he left after giving them instructions that action should be taken as per the law. “Even the police officials will admit that I did not put any pressure on them; that is why a case was registered at 6 am,” he said.
Tingre further said certain elements were trying to defame him on social media, and this could negatively impact his political image. He said he is against “nightlife culture” and has often raised his concerns.
“I have already given a letter to the police commissioner to take action against illegal businesses such as pubs, bars and terrace hotels operating late into night in the upscale areas of Viman Nagar, Kalyani Nagar, Kharadi and illegal businesses like sale of liquor, matka business, hookah parlours, card clubs, sale of drugs and massage parlours,” he said.
The NCP (Ajit Pawar) MLA said his political opponents were trying to defame him and there is no question of him influencing the case in any way. He also denied allegations that he had offered food and water to the boy and said he had not even met him.
While Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has denied that there is any pressure on the police, a blood alcohol test conducted eight hours after the incident poses a different set of problems. Experts said in drink-driving cases, it is important to conduct a blood alcohol test within an hour and a delayed test can negatively impact the case.
‘Important to conduct blood alcohol test within an hour’
While the police have alleged that the accused was driving under the influence of alcohol at the speed of 250 kmph when the crash took place, they have faced much criticism for failure to provide a watertight case to the JJB, which led to an easy bail for the juvenile accused with conditions like writing an essay and working with traffic police for 15 days. The crash took place at 2.30 am, but the boy’s blood alcohol test was conducted at 11 am, which is eight hours later.
Shirish Gupte, a Mumbai-based senior advocate who has handled high-profile cases, told News18 that blood sample has to be taken within an hour’s time, otherwise the percentage of alcohol in blood gets diluted.
“It is important to detect alcohol immediately after arrest. Blood test has to be taken within an hour’s time. It does affect the case negatively because the percentage of alcohol in the blood gets diluted. You may not get the correct picture of what must have happened at the time of the accident. Eight hours is a very long period. Metabolism will have its impact. I have never heard of a case where they have delayed for eight hours,” he said.
Calling the investigation “incorrect”, Gupte said two young people have died because of no fault of theirs. “If he must have taken a lot of water in the intervening period, it must have definitely affected the level of alcohol in the blood. It is a very incorrect investigation,” he added.
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