Pune Court rejects bail for six in Porsche crash case including minor's parents

A local court in Pune on Thursday denied bail to six individuals, including the parents of a minor driver, in connection with the alleged tampering of evidence in the Kalyaninagar Porsche car crash case. .The court heavily criticized the accused for conspiring to swap blood samples and shield the minor driver from legal consequences..Additional District Judge UM Mudholkar rejected the applications of Vishal and Shivani, the minor driver’s parents, who are accused of orchestrating the conspiracy; Dr. Shrihari Halnor and Dr. Ajay Taware, doctors at Sassoon Hospital who allegedly facilitated the illegal blood sample swap; and Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, who are accused of acting as middlemen in the transaction..Judge Mudholkar held that releasing the accused on bail would send a “wrong message to society” and could hinder the pursuit of justice in the case.“Even before the splashes of blood lying on the road of the victims/occupants of the motorcycle could get dried, the tampering with the evidence commenced and even concluded to a large extent, with the help of monetary influence or otherwise at odd hours of midnight,” the court remarked.He added that tampering seemed to be “in the genes/DNA of modus of commission of crime” in this case..The case stems from a tragic incident on May 19, 2024, when the minor, (referred to as a child in conflict with the law/ CCL), allegedly drove a Porsche recklessly at high speed, fatally hitting Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, who were on a motorcycle.Within hours of the crash, the prosecution alleges, the minor’s parents, Vishal and Shivani, paid ₹ 3 lakh to Dr. Shrihari Halnor, who was responsible for collecting the minor’s blood samples to determine if he had been driving under the influence of alcohol.The court order details that instead of taking the CCL's blood sample, Dr. Halnor allegedly replaced it with a sample from Shivani, the minor’s mother, to conceal the driver's intoxication.“After carefully analyzing the entire material placed in the form of chargesheet, it becomes crystal clear that there is substance in the allegation that applicants Vishal and Shivani conspired with all the remaining applicants i.e. Dr. Halnor, Dr. Taware, Ashpak Makandar, and Amar Gaikwad to replace the blood sample of applicant Shivani in the place of CCL by adopting the illegal mode of offering bribe to both the doctors, and for that purpose, applicant Ashpak and Amar extended their active help,” the court order noted..The court also highlighted that the evidence presented included CCTV footage and call data records (CDRs) that captured the accused coordinating the alleged crime at Sassoon Hospital in the middle of the night.“In the odd hours of midnight, all of them gathered in the premises of the Sassoon Hospital and performed their particular incriminating role to achieve the target of replacing the blood sample of Shivani in the place of blood of CCL,” the court observed, adding that the accused’s actions were corroborated by witness statements..The court further emphasized the severity of the alleged crime and the potential for evidence tampering if the accused were granted bail.“The grant of bail, at this stage, would certainly lead to tampering of the evidence of the material witnesses, and thereby the legal course may get thwarted, and there may be denial of legal justice to the victims, their family members, as well as society at large,” the order stated.Additionally, the judge dismissed the defense’s argument that the accused had little opportunity to tamper with electronic or documentary evidence.“No doubt, as rightly pointed out, the possibility of tampering with documentary and electronic evidence by the applicants may be Nil, but the same cannot be treated to be acceptable as regards the statements of several witnesses whose oral evidence in the court would be of very crucial nature,” the court said..The court, however, refuted comparisons made by the prosecution between the accused parents and notorious fugitives like Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, stating that such comparisons were “fanciful and hence deserve rejection.”.Senior Advocate Harshad Nimbalkar along with Advocates Sudhir Shah, Rishikesh Ganu and Prasad Kulkarni argued for the bail applicants (accused).Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray represented the State..[Read Order]