Pune:
The father of the 17-year-old Pune teen – who killed two people while “heavily drunk” and driving his dad’s Rs 2.5 crore Porsche electric sports car – faces additional charges of forgery, criminal conspiracy, and destruction of evidence. The father – a city-based real estate mogul arrested trying escape the cops – already faces charges of willful neglect of his child under the Juvenile Justice Act.
The father is presently in jail till June 7 on charges of cheating; he reportedly failed to pay the Rs 1,758 registration fee for the expensive, high-performance car. He will likely be produced before a district court – by the Crime Branch, which has taken over all related cases – on other charges.
READ | Porsche Crash Teen’s Dad Charged With Cheating, Jailed Till June 7
The boy’s grandfather has also been arrested and is now in police custody; he has been accused of “wrongfully confining” a family staffer – the driver of the Porsche that ferried the teen and two of his friends at the start of a drinking binge meant to celebrate passing the Class 12 exams – who was reportedly threatened and bribed, with cash and gifts, to take responsibility for the horrific incident.
The father and the grandfather have also been charged with kidnapping and illegal confinement.
READ | Cash, Kidnapping: How Pune Teen’s Family Tried To Shift Blame
The cops are expected to interrogate both individuals on this charge.
The Pune Porsche crash case has taken murky turns since the teen – four months shy of legal driving age and nearly eight years shy of legal drinking age – boy ran over a bike carrying Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, 24-year-old IT professionals from Madhya Pradesh – at 2.15 am on May 19.
The most recent turn was the arrest of two doctors from the state-run Sassoon Hospital on charges of manipulating the results of the boy’s blood test. Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said samples from the hospital and sent for forensic tests – to potentially establish blood alcohol level – were not from the teen. “This means the samples were replaced,” Mr Kumar told the press.
READ | Pune Teen’s Blood Sample Thrown In Dustbin, 3 Arrested
“Around 11 am on May 19, a blood sample (of the teen) taken at Sassoon Hospital was thrown in a dustbin… the sample of another person was sent to the lab. Chief Medical Officer Srihari Halnor replaced the sample… we found Halnor replaced this on instructions from Ajay Tawade, the head of the hospital’s forensic medicine department…” Pune’s top cop confirmed.
Questions have also been raised over police failing to follow protocol.
READ | Pune Porsche Crash: Teen Wasn’t Taken For Medical Test On Time
Officers at the Yerwada Police Station, where the case was first filed, failed to take the teen for a mandatory medical test (to establish blood alcohol levels) within the stipulated period. They may have also allowed him to eat fast food – pizza and burger – while in lock-up and, crucially, drink water, which could compromise the result of medical tests, were they administered as required.
READ | Twist In Porsche Crash: Cops To Probe Cops, Pizza, Burger Row
Other headline points in this shocking investigation include the ridiculous bail terms set for the teen within 15 hours after he ran over the bike and killed Mr Awadhiya and Ms Koshta. The terms included bonds of Rs 15,000 and a 300-word essay on road safety. The terms triggered huge outrage, after which the Juvenile Board modified its order and sent the boy to a remand home till June 5.
READ | Pune Teen Who Killed 2 Sent To Remand Home Till June 5
The severity of the case have prompted the cops to appeal to the Juvenile Board for permission to try the boy as an adult, which would mean he can face charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. For now he only faces a drunk driving charge that carries a maximum six-month jail term.
Pune Police has insisted the boy was not so drunk that he did not know what he was doing, and that he was “fully in his senses” at the time of the accident. “There is pressure… we are making an absolutely watertight case to ensure that the accused can go to jail for 10 years,” Mr Kumar said.
The cops have also pointed to CCTV footage from one of the bars visited by the Pune teen and his friends – where they can be seen at a table with several bottles of alcohol served – to underline their “watertight” case. The bar – Cosie Bar – has been sealed and the owners and staff arrested.
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Source link: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/forgery-criminal-conspiracy-charges-added-against-father-of-pune-teen-5755978