Pune Porsche Crash: Teen Driver Sent To Observation Home Till June 5, Bail Order Cancelled

Pune Porsche Accident News Updates: The Juvenile Justice Board has cancelled the bail order of the 17-year-old teen who crashed his speeding Porsche into a motorbike killing two people on the spot. He has been sent to observation home until June 5.

Police argued in favour of the remand of the 17-year-old accused in front of the Juvenile Justice Board on the grounds that he is not safe outside as people will possibly attack him and people are safe if he is inside.

The defence counsel, however, said the teen suffered from depression that’s why he got into the habit of drinking. The accused before the board mentioned that he wants to stay with his mother and would feel safe at home. He said he could further slip into depression if he is kept inside the remand home.

Ahead of the hearing before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), Pune police added some more sections against the 17-year-old accused. Apart from section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act (driving by a drunken person), sections 184 (action against those who violate traffic rules through rash or dangerous driving), 119 (age limit in connection with the driving of motor vehicles) and 177 (general provision for punishment of offences) have been added.

The juvenile justice board heard the application of Pune police to try the 17-year-old accused as an adult.

A Porsche car allegedly driven by the teenager, who the police claim was drunk at the time, fatally knocked down two motorbike-borne software engineers in Kalyani Nagar in Pune city in the early hours of Sunday.

The father of the 17-year-old, Vishal Agarwal, a real estate developer, was sent to two days of police custody by a session court on Wednesday. According to the remand copy, Vishal Agarwal was not cooperating with police in the investigation therefore, Pune police sought his custody for further questioning.

When police sent him the notice to join the investigation before his arrest, he misled them by stating that he was in Shirdi but he was in Aurangabad. When Vishal was arrested he was carrying a simple Nokia phone and a Kia company-manufactured car. Both have been confiscated by the police.

The police had registered a case against the teenager’s father under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Section 75 deals with “willful 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 man, despite knowing his son did not have a valid driving license, gave him the car, thus endangering the latter’s life. He also allowed his son to party despite knowing he consumes liquor.

The deceased were identified as Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both 24-year-old IT professionals hailing from Madhya Pradesh and working in Pune.

Latest Updates on Pune Accident:

• Prashant Patil, lawyer of the accused, said a decision on whether to appeal the order will be taken after talking to the teen’s parents. “We will speak to the parents of the accused and decide whether we need to appeal or not by tomorrow evening,” Patil said.
• Parents can meet the accused twice a week for an hour.
• No arguments were made today in front of the JJ board on the teen being tried as an adult. Police will have to file a chargesheet within 30 days and it will be decided within three months if the 17-year-old will be tried as an adult, the accused’s lawyer further said, adding that police will have to seek approval from the JJB if they want to question the teen.
• The defence counsel said the teen suffered from depression that’s why he got into the habit of drinking.
• RTO Officer Sanjiv Bhor said, “The car was delivered from a dealer in Bengaluru. A temporary registration was issued from Bengaluru Central RTO which was valid from 18 March 2024 to 17 September 2024… The owner brought the car for registration at the RTO Pune on 18 April 2024 where it was inspected and approved on the same day. The prescribed fee was not paid and a registration number for the car was not issued. Since this is an EV, there is an exemption in the registration fee and tax… The accused is not liable for a driving licence up to the age of 25… The flying squads have been instructed to immediately detain any vehicles without number plates…”

• The hearing has begun at JJB. The media is not allowed inside. Sources said that Vishal Agarwal will be produced around 2 pm.

• Amid the outrage, NCP leader Prajakta Tanpure;s wife has come out and accused the teenager of “bullying” children in school. She claimed that her son and the accused were in the same school, and “he bully people in their school”.

• Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) chief Prakash Ambedkar alleged that officers at Yerawada police station “spent more time questioning the relationship” between deceased Anish and Ashwini, while the accused was allegedly “served burger and pizza”.

• Pune pub owners are set to meet police commissioner, asking to stop action against them. They are of the opinion that the youngsters enter in with fake ID, and they have no way to cross check that. The move comes hours after Pune municipal corporation took action against illegal pubs.

• A Pune court on Tuesday remanded three accused — an owner and two managers of different restaurants — where the boy consumed liquor along with his friends before getting behind the wheel of the car — to police custody till May 24 in the case. The accused — Naman Pralhad Bhutda, the son of Cosie restaurant owner, its manager Sachin Katkar, and the manager of Blak Club hotel Sandip Sangle — were produced before the court.

• Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said after the crash, the police immediately invoked IPC section 304 along with relevant provisions and in its remand plea before the JJB, mentioned that since the teenager was 17 years and eight months old, he should be treated as adult.

• “After the (2012) Nirbhaya case (of Delhi), there was an amendment in the law stipulating that in heinous crimes, juveniles (accused) who are above 16 should be tried as adults. Taking this point, the Pune police sought permission to allow them to treat the juvenile (in Pune crash case) as an adult. However, the board took a different stand,” Fadnavis maintained. He said the JJB took a “lenient view” on remand report filed by the police and granted bail to the boy on grounds he will do community work for 15 days and write an essay of 300 words on road safety.

• “The order (granting bail) passed by the JJB was shocking and surprising and it aggravated the public outrage,” the deputy CM opined. The police moved an application in a higher court challenging the JJB order.

• After an FIR was registered against Pune builder Vishal Agarwal for letting his 17-year-old son drive the luxury car, he tried to escape. Agarwal tried to mislead the police by leaving home in his car and asking the driver to take the road to Mumbai.

• The prominent Pune realtor reportedly told another driver to leave for Goa in his other car. On the way to Mumbai, he got off the car and used a friend’s car to proceed towards Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

• NDTV stated that multiple cars were involved to confuse the cops on where he was headed. The realtor also started using a new SIM card so that police cannot track his number, police have said.

(With inputs from Yesha Kotak in Mumbai)

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