A second luxury car was spotted at the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune on the day the blood samples were swapped, revealed the police investigation into the Porsche crash case. This has raised more questions as it has already been established that the mother and grandfather of the 17-year-old accused were in one car.
According to the police, Shivani Agarwal and her father-in-law Surendra Agarwal came to the Sassoon hospital in a car while efforts are on to identify the other car. Sources said the occupants of the second car spoke to Atul Ghatkamble, to whom they offered a bribe to swap the teenager’s blood sample.
Ghatkamble was the hospital peon working under accused Dr Ajay Taware. The police said they are now trying to find those in the other car.
Meanwhile, two more people were arrested for allegedly acting as middlemen and facilitating financial transactions between the accused doctors and the juvenile’s father. Police identified them as Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad. The investigation has revealed that they allegedly tampered with the blood samples and made the transaction of Rs 3 lakh. They were sent to police custody till June 10.
On Wednesday, meanwhile, the accused doctors and parents will be presented before the court on Wednesday for alleged evidence tampering. The hearing by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) will also be held in the evening, where the police is likely to seek an extension of the teen’s remand.
In the hearing held in the first half of the day, the board has approved the family’s plea seeking for a relative to meet the accused on Thursday (June 6). Now, sources said, either an aunt or uncle will be allowed to meet the minor for an hour.
The police moved an application before the JJB seeking extension for 14 days. The remand of the juvenile, who is lodged at an observation home, ends on Wednesday. “We have moved an application before the JJB seeking the extension of his remand at the observation home for another 14 days,” a Pune crime branch official said.
Two IT professionals were killed in the early hours of May 19 in Kalyani Nagar of Maharashtra’s Pune city after a Porsche allegedly driven by the juvenile rammed into their two-wheeler. The police claim the juvenile was under the influence of alcohol at that time.
The JJB had granted bail to the teenager, son of a real estate developer, a few hours after the incident and asked him to write a 300-word essay on road safety. Following severe criticism, the police again approached the JJB, which modified the order and sent the accused juvenile to the observation home till June 5.
The police have already arrested the juvenile’s father, mother, two doctors and another staffer of the state-run Sassoon General Hospital for the alleged swapping of blood samples of the juvenile with those of his mother. The juvenile’s grandfather has also been arrested in a case pertaining to the incident.
