The Pune Porsche case, the accident that took place on 19th May 2024, in Maharashtra’s Pune, serves as a grim reminder of how influence, wealth, systemic corruption and a dash of insensitivity together undermine justice in India. A 17-year-old son of a builder, Vishal Agarwal of Brahma Realty and Infrastructure, rammed his Porsche Taycan car into a vehicle in an inebriated state and killed two people named Aneesh Awadhia and Ashwini Koshta.
Medics involved in Pune Porsche case accused’s blood sample swap suspended
This hit-and-run case sparked nationwide outrage for many reasons, starting with the accused getting bail within 15 hours of the incident and multiple cover-up attempts. In a latest development, the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) has suspended registrations of Sassoon General Hospital’s former head of forensic sciences department, Dr Ajay Taware, and former casualty medical officer (CMO) Dr Shrihari Halnor. The two are facing trial in the case of swapping the blood sample of the accused teenager.
This came after the MMC sought committee reports and documents from the Pune police and the medical education department. Based on these documents, the decision to suspend both licences was taken by the council.
Notably, Shrihari Halnor was the CMO who attended to the accused after the accident. The Pune Police has said that Halnor swapped the blood samples on the instruction of Taware. Both of them were arrested on 27th May 2024, after the accused teenager’s blood sample test conducted at two hospitals gave different results. The results confirmed the Pune Police’s suspicion that the samples at the Sassoon hospital were swapped.
Later, the probe established that in exchange for money, the accused teenager’s blood sample was swapped with that of his mother, a co-accused who is also currently in jail along with the accused’s father. The accused’s parents got two middlemen to hand over the money to Halnor through a mortuary staffer at the forensic science department. All those involved were arrested by the police last year. It was earlier reported that the accused teen’s parents gave Rs 3 lakhs to the accused medics for blood sample swapping.
Notably, the initial plan of the accused’s family was to use the blood sample of the accused teen’s brother or father; however, since both were in an inebriated state, they decided to swap the blood sample with that of his mother. Moreover, the blood samples of the friends accompanying the accused were also swapped.
The accused teen’s father, Vishal Agarwal, made as many as 14 calls to Dr Ajay Taware, head of the Sassoon Hospital’s forensic medicine department, within two hours before the blood sample collection of the minor.
The Agarwal family’s attempt to shift the blame
After arresting the father, the Pune Crime branch, on May 25 morning, also arrested SK Agarwal, the grandfather of the minor accused in the case. It may be recalled that the Pune teen’s grandfather’s link with the underworld had come to the fore earlier. The accused grandfather allegedly threatened Gangadhar, their driver, snatched his phone, and forcibly kept him confined in their bungalow in an attempt to force him to take responsibility for the crime instead of his minor grandson.
Two police officials caused delay in filing FIR and collecting blood samples, NCP leader tried to put political pressure on police
It was reported that NCP leader and then MLA, Sunil Tingre, was called to the police station by the accused teen’s father, Vishal Agarwal, apparently to pressurise the police to soften action against the accused. Tingre was later questioned by the police regarding this. Later, two cops, Inspector Rahul Jagdale and Assistant Inspector Vishwanath Todkari, were suspended for dereliction of duty, failing to inform seniors promptly, causing delays in registering a case and collecting blood samples, as confirmed by an internal inquiry against the two cops. It is interesting to note that while the medics involved in illegal blood swap have been suspended, no action has been taken against Sunil Tingre for his alleged role in asserting influence on police in favour of the accused.
Initially, the accused teen was booked under lighter IPC sections, such as Section 304a (causing death by negligence), rather than Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). It must be mentioned that Section 304 was added only after a massive public outcry.
In March this year, the Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said that a proposal has been sent to the state home department seeking the dismissal of these two suspended cops. It was reported last year that the accused teenager was provided with Pizzas and Burgers in the police station after being taken into custody.
Accused minor accessed alcohol, was riding car without registration
Notably, the accused and his friends consumed alcohol at two pubs, running up a Rs 48,000 bill. Back then, the police had arrested the pub owners and staff for serving liquor to a minor, violating the Juvenile Justice Act and the Motor Vehicles Act. While the Excise Department sealed both the pubs, the ease with which the accused minor got alcohol indicates laxity in law enforcement.
In addition to this, the police had revealed that the Porsche Taycan car, the accused teen was riding on the day of the incident, was being used since March 2024 without any registration. The owner did not pay the necessary registration fees while purchasing the vehicle.
Speaking about the same, Pune regional transport officer Sanjiv Bhor said last year, “The car was booked through a dealer in Bengaluru, which provided a temporary registration before delivering it to the owner in March this year. It was the responsibility of the owner to get it registered. The vehicle came to the Pune RTO, and an inspection was done. However, the owner didn’t pay the fee required for the registration. Since the fees were not paid, the registration number was not given.”
Juvenile ‘Justice’ Board granted bail to the accused on condition of writing a 300-word essay on road safety
The accused minor had obtained bail from the Juvenile Justice Board within 15 hours of his arrest, that too on conditions as outrageously trivial as two bonds of Rs 7500 each and writing a 300-word essay on road accidents, working with Yerwada traffic police for 15 days and undergoing de-addiction counselling. The JJB’s leniency indicated a clear dearth of empathy for the deceased and their family members, despite the severity of the crime. Later, however, the JJB revoked the accused teen’s bail on 22nd May, sending him to an observation home.
Such is the deplorable state of our society and the judiciary that a rich underage boy without a driving license driving a luxury Porsche Taycan car without any registration since March at its top speed, fails to control the vehicle while drunk and ends up killing two people, booked under IPC section 304A (causing death by negligence) among other sections get bail in a blink of an eye.
As if this was not enough, on 25th June 2024, the Bombay High Court decided that the accused teen’s detention was ‘illegal’ and ordered his release to the custody of his aunt, citing procedural errors.
Corruption, apathy, wealth and influence helped the rich to get away with the murder of two innocent people
The Pune Porsche case serves as a glaring example of how all it takes is wealth, influence and corruption within the ‘system’ to help an irresponsible rich brat get away with the murder of two innocent people. From RTO’s negligence, hospital staff’s corruption to judiciary’s apathy, the entire ‘system’ is collectively responsible for the killing of two innocent people who committed the only crime of stepping out on the road, knowing little that their lives are unimportant for drunk rich brat who would obtain bail within hours while munching pizza. From the Jessica Lal Murder case (1999), Sanjeev Nanda BMW hit-and-run case (1999), the 2017 Punjab and Haryana Court verdict reducing jail term of rash driver who killed one, the 2016 Mercedes hit and run case, or the one involving a Bollywood actor, there are numerous such cases wherein the police response was sluggish, punishments were minimal, hinting that we have a two-tiered justice system.
In the Pune Porsche case, while the public outrage and media scrutiny did force some accountability, however, the pace at which things are moving forward, justice remains elusive. In a fast-moving world where material gains and luxuries are more valuable than human life, incidents of hit-and-run cases in a country like India are, sadly, too common. The occurrence of hit-and-run cases is common to such an extent that in 2022, over 30,000 people died in such cases, while double the number were injured. While the number of cases has been high, the conviction rate in hit-and-run cases has been below 50% in 2022. A slow-moving legal system marked by lengthy wait times and gradual advancement allows a window for rich and powerful criminals to exploit the loopholes in the law and escape punishment for their crimes. Besides, the menace of corruption at multiple levels of the ‘system’ needs to be eradicated. Compassion should take precedence over corruption to ensure that no rich brat gets to exploit their privilege to evade or minimise punishment.
