Porsche crash: No bail for teen driver's parents, other four accused

Pune, Aug 22 (PTI) A court here on Thursday rejected the bail applications of six persons including the teen driver's parents in connection with alleged blood-swapping in the May 19 Kalyani Nagar Porsche car crash case.

The teen driver is accused of crashing his luxury car into a motorbike, killing two IT professionals, while his parents and others allegedly conspired to replace his blood samples so as to establish he was not drunk at the time of the accident.

Additional Sessions Judge U M Mudholkar refused bail to the 17-year-old's parents Vishal and Shivani Agarwal; Dr Ajay Taware and Dr Shreehari Halnor of Sassoon General Hospital, and alleged middlemen Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad.

While refusing bail, the court noted that the accused had begun tampering with evidence even before the victims' blood splattered on the road had begun to turn dry.

District Judge and Additional Sessions Judge U M Mudholkar, in his order, said granting bail to the accused at this stage would certainly lead to tampering of evidence of the material witnesses.

This may thwart the legal course, leading to denial of legal justice to the victims, their family members as well as the society at large, the judge said.

"Even otherwise granting bail in such a serious matter may shake the conscious of the society and it would ultimately lead to sending a wrong message. Hence, in the considered view of this court, no case is made out by applicants for bail," he said.

In its order, the court said the defence had rightly argued the possibility of tampering with documentary and electronic evidence is nil as it is in the possession of the investigating agency.

"The possibility of tampering with documentary and electronic evidence by the applicants may be nil, but the same cannot be treated to be acceptable as regards the statements of several witnesses whose oral evidence in the court would be of very crucial nature. In the event of them being won over by the applicants by adopting the same modes as they adopted in replacing the blood samples, then the present case may not reach its expected legal conclusion," the order stated.

The court order said it was a matter of record that applicants Vishal and Shivani Agarwal (the minor's parents) certainly used their financial power to influence applicants Dr Halnor and Dr Taware.

"Perusing the entire charge­sheet, which runs into almost 900 pages, clearly goes to show that even before the splashes of blood lying on the road of the victims could get dry, the tampering with the evidence commenced and even concluded to a large extent with the help of monitory influence or otherwise at odd hours of midnight," the order stated.

The judge, however, said the argument of Investigation Officer ACP Ganesh Ingale that the accused (parents of the minor) were financially strong people who could flee the country like fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya was "fanciful" and, hence, deserves rejection.

The status of Vishal and Shivani Agarwal, being builders and developers by profession operating mainly in Pune, cannot be equated with that of fugitives Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, the court observed.

The prosecution argued that if given bail, the accused might pressurise the witnesses and tamper with the evidence.

Senior Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray and his colleague advocate Sarthi Pansare told court the accused toyed with the judicial system by tampering with evidence, adding they would again make such attempts if given the bail. PTI SPK BNM