Porsche crash case: Boy’s mother arrested over blood sample swap
Eleven people have been arrested in the case, including the 17-year-old’s father, mother and grandfather
The Pune police on Saturday arrested the mother of juvenile who allegedly crashed a Porsche into a motorcycle, killing two software engineers, for tampering with evidence after an investigation found the teen’s blood sample had been replaced with his mother’s.
Eleven people have been arrested in the case, including the 17-year-old’s father, mother and grandfather.
According to investigators, the mother and father of the juvenile have confessed that their underage son was driving the Porsche car at the time of the accident. The parents arrested by the crime branch at around 3 pm on Saturday admitted to their child’s involvement in the fatal accident that claimed two lives during the interrogation. The minor’s mother also confessed that her blood was used to manipulate the blood sample report collected at Sassoon General Hospital.
Along with the juvenile’s mother, father was also again arrested by the crime branch for his alleged involvement in exchange of blood samples. The minor’s father already arrested for his alleged role in kidnapping and abduction of the employed driver was serving magistrate custody along with his father (grandfather of juvenile).
“During the interrogation of arrested accused, it became clear that mother’s blood sample was replaced with minor’s sample,” stated the release.
The release referred to interrogation of suspended forensics department head Dr Ajay Taware, former Casualty Medical Officer Dr Shrihari Halnor, and mortuary staffer Atul Ghalkamble of the Sassoon General Hospital, who were arrested on Monday for allegedly changing the blood samples of the minor boy.
Witnesses have said the boy was inebriated at the time of the incident, a fact that could not be determined due to the blood sample tampering. The 17-year-old son of a real estate developer was released with a slap on the wrist by the juvenile board hours after the accident on May 19, but was taken into custody once the incident came to light and triggered public outrage.
Crime branch officials detained the mother on Saturday morning and interrogated her about exchanging blood samples at Sassoon General Hospital, as well as kidnapping and abducting the employed car driver in order to force him to take the fall for the fatal crash.
“Prima facie it seems that she is involved in tampering of evidence (by way of changing blood sample). We will ascertain this further after detailed investigation,” said additional commissioner of police (crime) Shailesh Balkawade.
Police said they have “technical” evidence of the mother’s presence at the hospital during the blood collection on May 19. Dr Taware, Dr Halnor, and Ghalkamble allegedly swapped the teen’s blood for an initial payment of ₹3 lakh rupees.
It is on the basis of this evidence, police initially detained the boy’s mother and subsequently after other accused corroborated about blood sample swap, she was arrested.
“We have all technical evidence of the juvenile mother’s presence at Sassoon hospital at the time of the blood sample collection of the minor and will submit it to the court,” said another police officer.
According to the police, the first blood sample was taken of the juvenile on May 19 at around 11 am at the Sassoon General Hospital. When the police suspected manipulation of blood sample, another sample of the juvenile was taken at Aundh Government Hospital. A third blood sample of the juvenile’s father was taken and sent for DNA matching with the first sample, which revealed the first one was manipulated and the blood was of someone else.
Officials also said that they are now looking for an as yet unnamed person who is believed to be in possession of the original blood sample of the boy that was taken at 11am on May 19, based on disclosures by the arrested suspects. The police had initially said that the boy’s first sample, taken several hours after the incident, was thrown into the dustbin.
Statements from paramedical staff and trainee doctors present during the swap have been recorded. Police also seized CCTV camera footage, which revealed the swap occurred in an area not covered by cameras.
Police are investigating who else was present at Sassoon hospital at the time of exchange of blood samples.
The father was arrested for allowing the minor to drive despite being underage, wrongful confinement, and issuing threats to the driver to take responsibility for the accident. The minor has been detained at an observation home.
The minor’s mother and father have been arrested under Sections 304, 304(a), 201, 120(b), 279, 338, 337, 427, 466, 467, 468, 471 of the Indian Penal Code; Sections 7, 7(a), 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and Sections 184,185, 119/177 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The juvenile’s father, a prominent Pune builder, exchanged 14 calls with Dr Taware within hours of the May 19 accident, when the reportedly inebriated minor killed techies Aneesh Awadhiya, 24, and Ashwini Koshta, 24.