Pune car crash: Juvenile’s parents, another accused to stay in police custody till June 14

PTI, Jun 10, 2024, 7:14 PM IST

Pune: A Pune court on Monday extended till June 14, the police custody of the parents of a 17-year-old boy allegedly involved in the fatal Porsche car accident and another accused in a case pertaining to destruction of evidence.

The teen’s father, realtor Vishal Agrawal, and mother Shivani were arrested in the case for their suspected role in swapping of blood samples of the juvenile, who was allegedly drunk at the time of the May 19 crash in Kalyani Nagar which claimed the lives of two motorbike-borne IT professionals.

Shivani Agarwal was arrested on June 1 after revelation that the boy’s blood samples were replaced with hers. Her husband Vishal Agrawal was arrested for allegedly being involved in destruction of evidence.

Besides the Agrawal couple, one Ashpak Makandar, who acted as a middleman between them and doctors from state-run Sassoon Hospital, where blood samples were collected, were produced before the court on Monday. The prosecution sought extension of the police custody of the trio arguing they want to find out where the blood samples of the juvenile were disposed off.

It told the court that middleman Makandar was paid Rs 4 lakh by the driver of the teenager’s father. Of this, Rs 3 lakh was given further (to Sassoon doctors) for replacing the juvenile’s blood samples. “Rs 3 lakh has been recovered from Dr Srihari Halnor and Sassoon Hospital employee Atul Ghatkamble and we need to recover the remaining Rs 1 lakh,” said the investigating officer.

Defence lawyer Prashant Patil opposed the custody extension plea of the teen’s parents, saying they have already spent several days in police remand and there was no need for their further custodial interrogation. The minor boy has been sent to an observation home.