Pune Porsche crash: Sessions court grants bail to juvenile’s father Vishal Agarwal

PTI, Jun 22, 2024, 9:09 AM IST

Pune: A court in Pune on Friday granted bail to the father of the juvenile accused in one of the cases pertaining to the Porsche car crash in which two software professionals were killed in the city last month.

The court also granted bail to five other accused, including the owner and managers of two bars who were arrested for allegedly serving liquor to the underage patrons.

On May 19, two IT professionals were killed in Kalyani Nagar here after their motorcycle was hit by a speeding Porsche car allegedly driven by the juvenile in an inebriated condition.

The case caused a national uproar after the Juvenile Justice Board member L N Danwade gave bail to the accused on very lenient terms, including writing a 300-word essay on road safety.

Police had registered a case against the teenage accused’s father, Vishal Agrawal, a real estate developer, under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act, and against the owner and staff members of the two bars – Cosie and Club Blak – for serving alcohol to an underage person.

Section 75 deals with “wilful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses,” while section 77 deals with supplying a child with intoxicating liquor or drugs.

According to the FIR lodged in connection with the incident, the father, despite knowing his son did not have a valid driving license, gave him the car, thereby endangering the latter’s life, and allowed him to party even as the father knew that he consumes liquor.

Advocate Prashant Patil, who represented the juvenile’s father, confirmed that the court on Friday evening granted bail to him. Another defence lawyer representing the managers of Cosie restaurant and Club Blak confirmed that the court also granted bail to his clients.

The juvenile accused’s father and mother are currently in judicial custody in the case pertaining to the alleged blood sample swamping of their son. Apart from this case, his father was also arrested on the charge of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of his driver.