Pune Porsche Crash: Top Cop Says Teen's Blood Sample For Alcohol Test Was Replaced, Two Doctors Arrested

Maharashtra police have arrested two doctors of Pune’s Sassoon Hospital for allegedly manipulating the blood report of the 17-year-old boy involved in a car crash in the city’s Kalyani Nagar that killed two motorbike-borne software engineers on May 19. The teen accused was taken to Sassoon Hospital for a medical check-up after the deadly crash involving a Porsche car. According to Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar, the juvenile’s blood sample was thrown away and it was replaced with another person’s sample.

The arrests came after it emerged that the accused minor’s blood samples were switched with those of another person for a false negative alcohol report. The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report of the minor’s first blood sample showed no alcohol in his system, while the results of the second blood report indicated the contrary. This raised suspicions about the validity of the first report.

Later the DNA tests of both samples confirmed they were from different individuals, leading cops to suspect that the involvement of doctors at the government hospital in tampering of evidence.

“On 19th May, at around 11 am the blood sample which was taken at Sassoon Hospital was thrown in a dustbin of the hospital and the blood sample of another person was taken and sent to the forensic lab…Chief Medical Officer Srihari Halnor replaced this blood sample. During the investigation, we found Srihari Halnor replaced this on the instructions of the Head of the Forensic Medicine Department of Sassoon, Ajay Tawre,” the Police Commissioner said.

Both Dr Tawre and Dr Halnor were arrested by cops today. They will be produced before a local court for police custody later in the day.

“The DVR of the CCTV of Sassoon Hospital has been seized. Doctors are arrested on the charges of forgery, and destruction of evidence. Sections 120 B, 467 and 201 of IPC have been registered against this these doctors. The father of the minor accused was in direct contact with doctor Ajay Tawre. Crime Branch is looking out for the person with whom the blood sample was replaced. Crime Branch is in the process of taking custody of the juvenile accused’s father in the driver abduction case today who is in judicial custody currently,” the senior official added.

The Pune Porsche crash case has been marred by controversy since the beginning. The teenager was initially granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board, which also asked him to write an essay on road accidents, but following outrage over the lenient treatment and a review application by the police, he was sent to an observation home till June 5.

Now, the three generations of the Agarwal family are in hot soup under various charges in the same Porsche car accident case in which the Madhya Pradesh IT engineers –Ashwini Koshtha and her friend Aneesh Awadhiya — were killed.

After the case gained media attention, the police also arrested the teenager’s father, realtor Vishal Agarwal, and his grandfather, Surendra Agarwal, in connection with the accident.

His father was booked under the Juvenile Justice Act for “exposing a child to danger” by handing over the car to him while knowing that he had no driving license, while the grandfather was arrested for the ‘illegal confinement’ of the driver.

Today, cops will also produce a production remand for Vishal Agrawal before the court seeking to question him and his father in the case pertaining to intimidating the driver.

On Friday, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told reporters that an attempt was made to establish that the Porsche was not driven by the 17-year-old, and the driver employed by his family even tried to take responsibility.

After the accident, the driver initially claimed he was driving the car, the commissioner said, adding, “Why and under whose pressure he said that will be disclosed at an appropriate time.”

Citing their investigation, Kumar said it had emerged that the juvenile was driving the car and they had already collected all the necessary chronological evidence.

“He was fully in his senses, he had full knowledge that due to his conduct, such an accident, where IPC section 304 is applicable, can happen,” the officer said. Section 304 deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The Pune police on Friday suspended two cops, including an inspector from Yerwada police station, for delayed reporting and dereliction of duty in the case.

Meanwhile, Pune police have also sent a notice to the youngster who made the fake rap video of the accused minor. Summons have been issued asking him to appear for an inquiry before the cops. The rapper is from Madhya Pradesh