Pune Porsche accident: Police arrest accused teen’s mother

NEW DELHI: Pune police have arrested the mother of the teen in the Porsche car accident case after confirmation that his blood samples were replaced with those of his mother, the city police chief Amitesh Kumar said on Saturday.
The police informed a local court that the juvenile’s blood samples had been swapped with those of a woman on Friday.
Meanwhile, the police had on Friday obtained permission from the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) to record the statement of the 17-year-old driver of the Porsche Taycan.
“We will visit the observation home on Saturday to record the boy’s statement,” a crime branch officer had told TOI.
The teen’s statement will be recorded in the presence of the district protection officer (DPO) and a family member.
A court has remanded the father and grandfather of the minor involved in the Pune accident to 14 days of judicial custody following the end of their police custody.
In addition to the family members, the police have arrested Dr Ajay Taware, former head of the forensic medicine department at Sassoon General Hospital, medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor and employee Atul Ghatkamble for allegedly tampering with the minor’s blood samples to hide his alcohol consumption at the time of the accident.
Police investigations revealed that around a dozen calls were made between Vishal Agarwal and Dr Ajay Taware during the sample collection process.
Maharashtra minister Hasan Mushrif said on Friday, “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.”
The police have filed an application seeking custody of Vishal Agarwal in connection with the alleged blood sample switching.
The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) has permitted the police to investigate the minor involved in the Porsche crash, in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act, which mandates that the inquiry of a minor be conducted in the presence of their parents.
Initially, JJB granted bail to the teenager, son of real estate developer Vishal Agarwal, shortly after the May 19 crash and instructed him to write a 300-word essay on road safety. However, following a nationwide outcry, the police approached the JJB again, resulting in a modified order that sent the minor to an observation home until June 5.
In response to the bail granted to the juvenile by a single member of the JJ Board, the Maharashtra government has established a committee to investigate the conduct of the state-appointed JJB members and determine if proper procedures were followed while issuing orders in the Pune car crash case.