SC grants bail to three accused in 2024 Pune Porsche crash case

The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to three accused in the 2024 Pune Porsche accident case that claimed two lives, while observing that parents are to be blamed for such incidents involving juveniles.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan observed that parents are not able to control their children. “Substance abuse is another thing but giving them (children) car keys and funds to have a gala time is unacceptable,” the court observed.

On January 23, the top court sought a response from the Maharashtra government on a plea filed by accused Amar Santish Gaikwad seeking bail in the case.

Gaikwad, represented by advocate Sana Raees Khan, was alleged to be a middleman who gave Rs 3 lakh to the assistant of a doctor in a hospital to replace a blood sample of the juvenile accused.

On May 19, 2024, a Porsche allegedly driven by a 17-year-old boy under the influence of alcohol fatally knocked down two IT professionals in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area.

On January 7, the top court sought a response from the Maharashtra government on pleas filed by two other accused seeking bail in the case.

Aditya Avinash Sood (52) and Ashish Satish Mittal (37), represented by senior advocates Siddharth Dave and Siddharth Agarwal, were arrested on August 19 last year, as their blood samples were used for tests in connection with two minors who were in the car along with the 17-year-old main accused at the time of the accident.

The high court on December 16 last year rejected the bail pleas of eight accused, including Gaikwad, Sood and Mittal, in the case.

The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) had granted bail to the minor accused on lenient terms, sparking nationwide outrage. The bail conditions included writing a 300-word essay on road safety.

Following public outrage, the Pune police approached the JJB to review its decision. The board later modified the order and sent the juvenile to an observation home. In June, the high court ordered the release of the juvenile.

While the juvenile involved in the case was released from the observation home, 10 accused, including his parents Vishal Agarwal and Shivani Agarwal, doctors Ajay Tawre and Shreehari Halnor, Sassoon Hospital staffer Atul Ghatkamble, Aditya Avinash Sood, Ashish Mittal and Arun Kumar Singh, and two middlemen, were sent to jail in the blood sample swapping case.