NEW DELHI: Two young software engineers died on Sunday after a Porsche Taycan car, driven by a prominent builder’s 17-year-old son, hit their motorcycle from behind at around 2.30am in Pune. The car was being driven at 160kmph at the time of the crash. The cops identified the deceased as Aneesh Awadhia (24) and Ashwini Koshta (24), both computer science engineering graduates who hailed from Madhya Pradesh, and studied at an engineering college in Pune before taking up jobs with a software company.
The crash, the deaths, the swift release of the accused, the arrest of his father, the action against the pubs and the subsequent political slugfest look like a chain reaction that has gripped the nation.
Released in a jiffy
The teenage driver was arrested by the police, but within 15 hours, he was granted bail by Pune’s Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which also rejected the police’s request for his trial as an adult. The bail conditions set by the JJB, which included writing a 300-word essay on accidents, painting traffic awareness boards, working with a traffic constable, and attending counseling, sparked outrage among the public. Even Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed shock at the bail conditions, calling them “shocking and surprising” and suggesting that the order needs to be reviewed.
“We feel JJB’s order ended up raising many questions. The board took a lenient view of the matter. The order needs to be reviewed,” he said after meeting top Pune police officers at the commissioner’s office.
The pub connection
Before the accident, the teen along with his friends drank alcohol at two pubs in the city – Cosie and Blak Mariott. He spent Rs 48,000 in 90 minutes at Cosie which the teen and his friends visited at 10.40pm on Saturday evening. They left for the second pub, Blak Mariott, at 12.10am after Cosie stopped serving them.
“The teenager had visited pubs and consumed alcohol before driving his car. We have ample CCTV footage of the boy and his group consuming alcohol. The blood sample reports are still awaited,” a city police official said. The owner and two staffers of the two Mundhwa pubs were arrested on Tuesday for serving liquor to minors. The police arrested Sachin Katkar (35) and Naman Bhutada, manager and owner, respectively, of the Cosie pub, and Sandeep Sangle (35), assistant restaurant manager of Blak Marriott pub. They were sent to judicial custody till May 24 by a special court.
According to cops, the trio’s custodial interrogation was essential to establish their individual roles as they had allowed minors into the pubs and served them liquor. Despite not being a member of the pubs, the teenager was allowed inside without verifying his age.
The police need to investigate if the teenager used another customer’s membership card to enter the pub, and also have to check the official record of customers visiting the pub. The prosecution also sought time to recover the liquor bill and identify the person who paid the bill. Pune collector Suhas Diwase later in the day ordered the indefinite closure of the two pubs.
Father’s tricks
The father of the teenage driver, a prominent builder, was detained by the Pune crime branch team along with his driver and an associate from separate locations in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
The father is facing charges of giving his son his high-end car to drive despite knowing that the latter did not have a driving licence nor was he trained to drive the car and that his son consumed alcohol. The builder was detained from a lodge in Sambhajinagar, while his driver and associate were picked from a hotel.
The builder attempted to outsmart the cops after fleeing the city. He sent one of his vehicles towards Mumbai and another to Goa. He borrowed a vehicle from an associate but it had a GPS fitted in it.
Political slugfest
Raut seeks removal of police chief: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday demanded removal of the Pune police commissioner in connection with the case.
Raut told reporters that the police gave a false report in connection with the accident and wondered whom the Pune CP was trying to save. “The Pune CP should be sacked. Whom has he helped in this case? Two innocent persons lost their lives. The boy can be seen drinking in pub.” Without elaborating he claimed, “This is a corrupt police system and a corrupt MLA.”
Maha LoP seeks judicial probe: Maharashtra’s leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar demanded on Tuesday a judicial inquiry into the Pune accident. In a post on ‘X’, the Bramhapuri MLA raised doubts about the effectiveness of Pune police’s investigation and highlighted disparities between CCTV footage and the police report.
Rahul – Why special treatment to brat?: Rahul Gandhi has questioned why “preferential treatment” was meted out to a wealthy 17-year-old drunken boy. “When a teen from a rich family consumes alcohol and kills two people with his Porsche, he is told to pen an ‘essay’. Why are bus, truck autorickshaw drivers or cabbies not asked to write such essays (after accidents),” asked Gandhi.
Fadnavis defends Pune Police: “An officer of the rank of assistant commissioner of police is conducting an inquiry into these allegations. If any sort of preferential treatment has been given, we will dismiss all the staff at the police station.”
What the FIRs say
The Pune police are now trying to build a strong case against the accused, seeking a review of the JJB’s bail order and requesting that the teenager be considered an adult due to the heinous nature of the crime. The police have presented evidence such as CCTV footage and photographs showing the teenager driving at high speed after consuming alcohol at two pubs. They have also invoked section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act against the 17-year-old driver for driving under the influence of alcohol.
The police have also registered a second FIR against his father, the two pub owners and three staffers for offences under sections 77 (penalty for giving intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug or psychotropic substances to a child) and 75 (punishment for cruelty to child) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and under sections 3 (necessity for driving licence), 5 (responsibility of owners of motor vehicles for contravention of sections 3 and 4) and 199-A (offences by juveniles) of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The crash, the deaths, the swift release of the accused, the arrest of his father, the action against the pubs and the subsequent political slugfest look like a chain reaction that has gripped the nation.
Released in a jiffy
The teenage driver was arrested by the police, but within 15 hours, he was granted bail by Pune’s Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), which also rejected the police’s request for his trial as an adult. The bail conditions set by the JJB, which included writing a 300-word essay on accidents, painting traffic awareness boards, working with a traffic constable, and attending counseling, sparked outrage among the public. Even Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed shock at the bail conditions, calling them “shocking and surprising” and suggesting that the order needs to be reviewed.
“We feel JJB’s order ended up raising many questions. The board took a lenient view of the matter. The order needs to be reviewed,” he said after meeting top Pune police officers at the commissioner’s office.
The pub connection
Before the accident, the teen along with his friends drank alcohol at two pubs in the city – Cosie and Blak Mariott. He spent Rs 48,000 in 90 minutes at Cosie which the teen and his friends visited at 10.40pm on Saturday evening. They left for the second pub, Blak Mariott, at 12.10am after Cosie stopped serving them.
“The teenager had visited pubs and consumed alcohol before driving his car. We have ample CCTV footage of the boy and his group consuming alcohol. The blood sample reports are still awaited,” a city police official said. The owner and two staffers of the two Mundhwa pubs were arrested on Tuesday for serving liquor to minors. The police arrested Sachin Katkar (35) and Naman Bhutada, manager and owner, respectively, of the Cosie pub, and Sandeep Sangle (35), assistant restaurant manager of Blak Marriott pub. They were sent to judicial custody till May 24 by a special court.
According to cops, the trio’s custodial interrogation was essential to establish their individual roles as they had allowed minors into the pubs and served them liquor. Despite not being a member of the pubs, the teenager was allowed inside without verifying his age.
The police need to investigate if the teenager used another customer’s membership card to enter the pub, and also have to check the official record of customers visiting the pub. The prosecution also sought time to recover the liquor bill and identify the person who paid the bill. Pune collector Suhas Diwase later in the day ordered the indefinite closure of the two pubs.
Father’s tricks
The father of the teenage driver, a prominent builder, was detained by the Pune crime branch team along with his driver and an associate from separate locations in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
The father is facing charges of giving his son his high-end car to drive despite knowing that the latter did not have a driving licence nor was he trained to drive the car and that his son consumed alcohol. The builder was detained from a lodge in Sambhajinagar, while his driver and associate were picked from a hotel.
The builder attempted to outsmart the cops after fleeing the city. He sent one of his vehicles towards Mumbai and another to Goa. He borrowed a vehicle from an associate but it had a GPS fitted in it.
Political slugfest
Raut seeks removal of police chief: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday demanded removal of the Pune police commissioner in connection with the case.
Raut told reporters that the police gave a false report in connection with the accident and wondered whom the Pune CP was trying to save. “The Pune CP should be sacked. Whom has he helped in this case? Two innocent persons lost their lives. The boy can be seen drinking in pub.” Without elaborating he claimed, “This is a corrupt police system and a corrupt MLA.”
Maha LoP seeks judicial probe: Maharashtra’s leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar demanded on Tuesday a judicial inquiry into the Pune accident. In a post on ‘X’, the Bramhapuri MLA raised doubts about the effectiveness of Pune police’s investigation and highlighted disparities between CCTV footage and the police report.
Rahul – Why special treatment to brat?: Rahul Gandhi has questioned why “preferential treatment” was meted out to a wealthy 17-year-old drunken boy. “When a teen from a rich family consumes alcohol and kills two people with his Porsche, he is told to pen an ‘essay’. Why are bus, truck autorickshaw drivers or cabbies not asked to write such essays (after accidents),” asked Gandhi.
Fadnavis defends Pune Police: “An officer of the rank of assistant commissioner of police is conducting an inquiry into these allegations. If any sort of preferential treatment has been given, we will dismiss all the staff at the police station.”
What the FIRs say
The Pune police are now trying to build a strong case against the accused, seeking a review of the JJB’s bail order and requesting that the teenager be considered an adult due to the heinous nature of the crime. The police have presented evidence such as CCTV footage and photographs showing the teenager driving at high speed after consuming alcohol at two pubs. They have also invoked section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act against the 17-year-old driver for driving under the influence of alcohol.
The police have also registered a second FIR against his father, the two pub owners and three staffers for offences under sections 77 (penalty for giving intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug or psychotropic substances to a child) and 75 (punishment for cruelty to child) of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, and under sections 3 (necessity for driving licence), 5 (responsibility of owners of motor vehicles for contravention of sections 3 and 4) and 199-A (offences by juveniles) of the Motor Vehicles Act.
