Porsche crash in Pune: Mother of teenager asks driver to take responsibility for accident | Latest news from India

Pune Police have claimed that the family of the 17-year-old, who killed two young IT professionals when his Porsche Taycan rammed a bike in Kalyani Nagar, put intense pressure on the driver Gangadhar to take the blame for the May 19 accident.

The minor’s father, Vishal Agarwal, and his grandfather, Surendra Agarwal, both in custody, are said to have pressured Gangadhar with offers of money and gifts and threats, forcing him to take responsibility for the accident.

Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told the Times of India that the minor’s father, a well-known builder in the city, and his mother had put pressure on Gangadhar.

“We have recorded the statement of the driver. He mentioned that the construction worker (boy’s father) called him on Sunday at around 2:45 am (after the accident). The construction worker asked him to claim that he was behind the wheel of the car when the accident happened. The construction worker’s wife emotionally asked him to take responsibility for the accident. The family members offered him various incentives to take responsibility,” ToI quoted the top police officer as saying.

On Saturday, following a complaint from Gangadhar, Pune police filed charges against Vishal and Surendra under sections 365 and 368 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for kidnapping the driver on the night of the incident, threatening him and locking him at the family residence in Wadgaonsheri to force him to confess to the crime.

While producing him in court on Saturday, Pune police said that Gangadhar’s clothes had been recovered from the Agarwals’ house. They also demanded the seizure of the BMW in which the driver was allegedly abducted.

The teenager’s grandfather was remanded in police custody till May 28. His lawyer said Surendra was in Delhi with his wife on the night of the incident. He was a well-known builder in the city before his family split.

In court, police mentioned the grandfather’s alleged criminal past to demand his custody and protect Gangadhar. Surendra was involved in cases of cheating, two attempted murders and criminal threats, according to police.

Vishal, who was arrested on Tuesday and is currently in jail for another case related to the accident, was also mentioned in the First Information Report (FIR).

The minor is currently detained in a government observatory in Yerawada after a juvenile justice judge rejected his bail plea on Wednesday.

What happened on May 19th?

On May 19, a Porsche, allegedly driven by the teenager, who police said was drunk, collided with two software engineers riding a motorcycle in Kalyani Nagar area. The collision resulted in the death of Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 24 years old.

Kumar told ToI, “After the accident, the minor, his friends and the driver were taken to the police station. Initially, the driver claimed that he was behind the wheel. However, the police did not believe him and registered a complaint against the minor.”

According to police, Vishal and his family tracked the driver after his statement was recorded on May 19 when he was going home. “They forced him to sit in their car and drove him to their bungalow in Wadgaonsheri. The driver was forced to sit in a room and they confiscated his phone. No one was allowed to meet him. The next day, the driver’s wife went to the builder’s bungalow to look for her husband. But she was not allowed to meet him. The builder’s family members made her many ‘promises’ and asked her to persuade her husband to take responsibility for the accident after creating a scene there,” the commissioner told ToI.

He added: “Later that same day, the driver was allowed to go home with a warning. After that, he went ‘undercover’ for two days and resurfaced on Thursday. When we took him to the CID for questioning on Thursday, this aspect of the case became clear. Given the criminal past of the boy’s grandfather, we have given the driver 24-hour protection under the Witness Protection Act. The CID has been instructed to investigate all three cases – the accident, the case against the minor’s father and the bars, and this new case of kidnapping and captivity.”