Two friends of the 17-year-old teen at the heart of the Pune Porsche crash have claimed the boy was drunk when he killed two people while driving his father’s Rs 2.5 crore supercar, police sources told NDTV this morning. Witnesses had told cops the car was travelling at 200 km per hour when it slammed into a bike carrying Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 24.
The force of the impact meant Mr Awadhiya and Ms Koshta – IT professionals from Madhya Pradesh – were flung into parked cars and into the air. She died on the spot while he died in a hospital.
Witnesses had earlier also said the boy seemed to be “heavily drunk” when detained by an angry crowd that formed after the incident. There were reports the boy was assaulted by the crowd.
In the hours and days after the horrific incident – which Mr Awadhiya family has called “murder” – CCTV footage from a city bar showed the boy and his friends draped over a table laden with bottles of alcohol. The bar owner and staff were arrested and questioned for serving liquor to a minor.
READ | Pune Bar Where Teen Drank Before Killing 2 With Porsche Sealed
The minimum legal drinking age in Maharashtra is 25.
Questions have been asked about the boy’s blood alcohol level, particularly after confirmation of lapses of protocol by the arresting cops, two of whom have been suspended. The lapses included not taking the teen – the son of a prominent city real estate mogul – for an immediate blood test.
READ | Pune Porsche Crash Teen Not Taken For Medical Test On Time
Further investigation has revealed two doctors and a ward boy at the state-run Sassoon Hospital – where the teen was finally taken, hours after the accident and he had been given water to drink (which could dilute the alcohol level) – may have manipulated the tests by altering the samples.
READ | Pune Teen’s Blood Sample Thrown In Dustbin, Doctor Arrested
The teen’s blood sample may have been swapped for one of three others collected for the purpose, including his mother, sources told NDTV. The boy’s sample was found in a dustbin in the hospital.
READ | Pune Porsche Teen’s Mother Part Of Family’s Big Cover-Up?
Dr Ajay Tawade and Dr Hari Harnor will remain in police custody till Wednesday, as will the ward boy, who allegedly handed over the Rs 3 lakh the teen’s family paid to the doctors to alter the tests.
Dr Harnor is the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer and Dr Tawade the head of its forensic department. The police believe Dr Tawade and the father spoke 14 times on the phone on the day of the incident, possibly to discuss bribes.
The Pune teen was arrested after the incident but released on bail within 15 hours, triggering widespread outrage, particularly over bail conditions that included writing a 300-word essay. The Juvenile Justice Board later modified its order and sent him to a remand home till Wednesday.
READ | Juvenile Board Members Under Scanner Over Bail Terms
The outrage has also led to scrutiny of the board; two state-appointed members, including Dr LN Danwade, who released the boy, will be investigated by the Women and Child Department.
The boy has been charged with drunk driving.
The charge carries a maximum of six months in jail and a fine of Rs 10,000 for a first-time offender. A more serious charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder is also on the table, but depends on the cops trying him as an adult.
An application has been made to the Juvenile Board and a decision is pending.
READ | Twist In Porsche Crash: Cops To Probe Cops, Pizza, Burger Row
Pune Police, who have come under fire lapses in investigation and preferential treatment, have vowed to build a “watertight” case, even without the potentially contaminated blood tests.
READ | Forgery, Criminal Conspiracy Charges Against Father Of Teen
The boy’s father was arrested a day after the crash; he was caught in a neighbouring city trying to orchestrate an elaborate escape plan. He has been charged with endangering his son’s health, forgery, cheating, and criminal conspiracy.
The grandfather – linked with gangster Chhota Rajan – was arrested on kidnapping and wrongful confinement charges.
READ | Cash, Kidnapping: How Pune Teen’s Family Tried To Shift Blame
It appears the father and the grandfather tried to bribe, and then threaten, a driver in their employ to claim responsibility for the crash. This was reportedly the same driver the boy browbeat into allowing him to drive the Porsche while drunk.
READ | Pune Teen Fought Driver For Porsche’s Keys Before Crash: Sources
The driver claims he was told to give in by the father.
READ | “Will Spare No One”: Eknath Shinde’s First Remarks
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, eight days after the crash, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde made his first public comment. He said he had been in touch with the cops from the start and that the law is equal for all.
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