Porsche crash: 2 held for swapping blood samples of minors accompanying teen driver

PTI, Aug 20, 2024, 6:20 PM IST

Police have arrested two persons in connection with the alleged swapping of the blood samples of minors who were with the juvenile accused in the Porsche car crash case of Pune, a top official said on Tuesday.

The arrested duo included the father of one of the two minors who were with the 17-year-old driver when he rammed his speeding Porsche car into two IT professionals on a motorbike on May 19 in Kalyani Nagar.

With the duo’s arrest late Monday night, the number of persons held in the Porsche car crash case has gone up to nine.

“The blood samples of two minors who were with the juvenile accused in the car (at the time of the crash) were swapped with those of these two (arrested) persons, who included the father of one of the minors,” Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said.

The arrested men were on Tuesday produced before a local court which sent them to police custody till August 26.

The high-end car driven by the minor allegedly under the influence of alcohol knocked down two motorbike-borne IT professionals, one of them a woman, in the wee hours of May 19, killing both of them.

The boy’s father is a prominent builder.

The boy’s parents and two doctors – Dr Ajay Taware, then-HOD (forensic medicine), Dr Shrihari Halnor — and one Atul Ghatkamble, a staffer at government-run Sassoon Hospital — have already been arrested for allegedly swapping the blood samples of the teen driver with those of his mother when he was taken for a medical examination after the crash.

Two other accused – Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad – acted as middlemen between the father and the doctors to facilitate financial transactions to swap the blood samples. They were also arrested earlier.

The police recently filed a 900-page chargesheet in the case against seven accused arrested earlier.