Porsche crash: Pune court denies bail to 6 accused of evidence tampering

Pune, Aug 23 (IANS) A Pune Sessions Court has rejected the bail applications of six persons accused in the May 19 Porsche hit-and-run case involving a minor for alleged tampering with evidence, “as it could send a wrong message to the society”, according to the detailed order made available on Friday.

Additional Sessions Judge U.M. Mudholkar also came down heavily on the six accused, including the parents of the ‘drunk’ minor boy who was also arrested and later released on bail by the Bombay High Court on June 25, during the hearing on Thursday.

ASJ Mudholkar noted that even before the blood of the victims on the motorcycle could dry, “tampering with evidence commenced and even concluded to a large extent, with the help of monetary influence or otherwise at odd hours of midnight”.

Two techies from Madhya Pradesh travelling on a motorcycle in the Kalyaninagar area — Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta — were fatally knocked down by the Porsche speeding at over 200 kmph at around 3.30 a.m. on May 19, sparking a nationwide furore.

The court also slammed all the accused, including the parents of the minor boy, for conspiring to swap blood samples, and protect their son from legal consequences for his action.

The accused persons are Pune realtor Vishal S. Agarwal, his wife Shivani V. Agarwal, medicos Shrihari B. Halnor and Ajay A. Taware, Ashpak B. Makandar, and Amar S. Gaikwad, whose bail pleas were rejected through a common order passed by ASJ Mudholkar.

While the Agarwal couple is the boy’s parents, Halnor and Taware were doctors at the government-run Sassoon General Hospital, while Makandar and Gaikwad acted as conduits in the deal in which large sums of money changed hands.

ASJ Mudholkar said that enlarging them on bail would send “a wrong message to the society”, besides hindering the pursuit of justice in the case.

In a strong observation, the court said that evidence tampering seems to be “in the genes/DNA of the modus operandi of commission of the crime” in this case.

As per the police investigation and special public prosecutor Shishir Hiray’s contentions, within hours after the fatal crash, the minor boy’s parents allegedly paid Rs 3 lakh to Halnor who collected their son’s blood sample to ascertain if he was drunk at the time of the accident.

Halnor allegedly replaced the boy’s blood sample with that of his mother (Shivani Agarwal) to suppress her son’s inebriated state at the time of the crash.

ASJ Mudholkar said that after analysing all the materials placed in the form of the charge sheet — CCTV footage, call records, witness statements, etc. — it has become crystal clear how all the accused had conspired in the entire matter through bribes to both the medicos and the two others who actively collaborated with them in the middle of the night.

The court was also not inclined to accept the arguments of the defence lawyers — Harshad Nimbalkar, Sudhir Shah, Rishikesh Ganu, and Prasad Kulkarni — contending that the accused had little opportunity to tamper with electronic or documentary evidence, in view of the statements of several witnesses which would be very crucial later.

The court said that given the severity of the crime, if the accused were granted bail at this stage, evidence may be tampered with which would deny justice to the victims, their families, and the society at large.

–IANS

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