The police custody of three accused in the Pune Porsche crash case ended on May 25, Friday. The accused, Naman Pralhad Bhutda, the owner of Cosie restaurant, its manager Sachin Katkar, and the manager of Blak Club Hotel Sandip Sangle, were remanded on Tuesday in the car accident case allegedly involving a 17-year-boy that claimed the lives of two persons.
Police on Thursday questioned the teen’s grandfather and friend regarding the horrific car accident. They also carried out a forensic examination of the car to collect evidence. Currently, the cops are trying to get CCTV footage of the entire route taken by the Porsche car — from the juvenile’s house to restaurant to club to accident spot.
The Mumbai Crime Branch is probing the hit-and-run case which took place on May 19. The minor ploughed his swanky race car into the two on a bike, killing them on the spot. The crime branch on Thursday summoned the accused’s grandfather, driver, and friend to piece together the sequence of events on the night before the hit-and-run incident, reported Times of India.
Police informed that the juvenile had allegedly drunk alcohol at separate establishments — Cosie Bar and Blak Bar. After this, he sped through a narrow road in Maharashtra’s Pune, killing two bike riders during the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.
The juvenile was granted bail, with his grandfather serving as the guarantor. The Juvenile Justice Board mandated that the accused teen write a 300-word essay and perform 15 days of community service as punishment. Interestingly, the grandfather had been charge-sheeted by the CBI for allegedly hiring Chhota Rajan to kill Shiv Sena leader Ajay Bhosale in 2009.
Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said that the Juvenile Justice Board has yet to receive an order requiring Maharashtra Police to treat the accused teen as an adult. Advocate Prashant Patil, who represented the accused at the JJB hearing, said that treating a juvenile as an adult accused can take at least two months, as reports of psychiatrists and counsellors, among others, are required. Then, the JJB makes its decision.
The sessions court on Wednesday ordered Vishal Agarwal (50), the father of the minor, along with two employees of Hotel Blak Club, Nitesh Shevani and Jayesh Gavkar, to be held in police custody until May 24.
Police have also filed an FIR against a minor under various sections of the IPC and the Motor Vehicles Act following an incident on Sunday. Additionally, the teen’s father has also been charged under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act for allowing his son to drive without a license and for endangering his life by providing access to alcohol.
The cops have also started legal action against the owner and employees of the two bars where the minor reportedly consumed alcohol before the accident. They are accused of serving alcohol to an underage person, contributing to the circumstances leading to the incident.
The two young IT professionals from Madhya Pradesh were identified as Ashwini Koshta and Aneesh Awadhia.
