Porsche crash in Pune: New CCTV footage shows hospital staff receiving bribes to exchange teenager’s blood sample | Latest news from India

The police have gained access to new video footage from a surveillance camera in connection with the Porsche accident in Pune. In the accident last month, a 17-year-old is said to have driven his luxury car into a motorcycle, killing two young software developers.

CCTV footage from Yerwada area shows a Sassoon General Hospital employee accused of being involved in a conspiracy to exchange the teenage driver’s blood samples and accepting bribes for the same, news agency PTI reported. Police said a middleman, Ashpak Makandar, handed over the bribe to hospital employee Atul Ghatkamble.

According to reports, the bribery of ₹Rs 3 lakh was paid on the premises of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).

Ghalkamble has already been arrested along with the hospital’s suspended head of forensics, Dr. Ajay Taware, and former emergency doctor, Dr. Shrihari Halnor, on suspicion of altering the minor’s blood samples.

According to police, the 17-year-old boy’s blood sample was collected at Sassoon General Hospital on May 19, just hours after the incident. However, when police suspected that the blood sample had been tampered with, another was collected at Aundh Government Hospital. Shortly after, a third blood sample was taken from the youth’s father for DNA testing, which revealed that the first sample was tampered with.

Police have arrested the accused’s parents in connection with a case involving the alleged exchange of his blood samples.

The incident took place on May 19 in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area when the 17-year-old boy, who was driving a Porsche, collided with a motorcycle, killing two technicians named Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa. Based on the CCTV footage, police said that the minor boy was driving the Porsche at a speed of 160 kmph at the time of the accident.

According to police, the teenager – the son of well-known construction worker Vishal Agrawal – had thrown a party for his friends on Saturday night to celebrate his final grades in class 12. The group drank at restaurants in the city and drove around at night.

Three separate cases have been registered with the police in connection with the incident, including an FIR for the accident, a second against a pub that allegedly served alcohol to the youth and against the accused’s father for allowing him to drive without a valid driving license.

A third case was also registered in connection with the wrongful detention and coercion of the family driver to take responsibility for the fatal accident – ​​in which the accused’s grandfather was arrested.

Meanwhile, the JJB on Wednesday extended the accused’s remand until June 25. Previously, he was in custody until June 12.

According to police, releasing the teenager at this time could hamper ongoing investigations into the case.

(With inputs from PTI)