Pune Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar on Friday said that an attempt is being made to frame the family driver in the Porsche accident case in which the 17-year-old son of a renowned real estate developer is accused of being behind the wheels of the luxury sedan in the early hours of May 19 when the vehicle fatally knocked down two bike-borne people.
Addressing a press conference on the case on Friday, the Pune top cop said the accused teen was "in his senses" despite being drunk and "had full knowledge" of the consequences of "their conduct".
The father of the 17-year-old is under arrest while the teen is also in observation home till June 5 after his bail, that he got within hours of the crash, was cancelled amid outrage.
"We have the CCTV footage of him drinking liquor in the pub...The point of saying this is that our case is not alone depending on the blood report we have other evidence also. He (minor accused) was in his senses. It was not as if all of them were so drunk that they could not understand anything. They had full knowledge that due to their conduct, an incident like section 304 cab happen. There is no fact about the pizza party at the police station...," Pune CP Amitesh Kumar said.
"Effort was made to change the driver during that period...We are investigating this also...It is true that at the start the driver had said that he was driving the car...We are investigating this part also under whose pressure the driver made that statement we are investigating it," the Pune top cop said.
On the allegations of preferential treatment given to the accused teen, CP Amitesh Kumar said as of now, nothing has been found to prove that in the investigation.
"We are investigating both the case minutely and with full sensitivity. We are making a watertight case. Over the allegations of any preferential treatment given to Minor an ACP rank officer is investigating the allegations...The victim will get justice and the accused will be punished. We have started the process of appointing a special counsel in the case so that our side should be kept strongly in the case in court. Police are on the stringent way to handle this case," the officer said.
Family Driver Takes Blame
DCP (crime) Amol Zende had said that as per the teen grandfather's statement, the teen informed his family Wednesday night that he and his friends were celebrating their Class XII results. Following a consultation with his son, the grandfather handed over the car keys and a credit card for the party expenses, a Times of India report cited the DCP as saying.
The family driver, according to the report, has told the police that the driver drove the Porsche out of the pub's valet.
"The family's driver told us that the teenager drove the Porsche from their Wadgaon Sheri bungalow to Cosie and later to Blak Marriott pub. The driver and another employee followed the Porsche in another four-wheeler. After partying at Blak Marriott, the driver drove the Porsche out of the pub's valet," the DCP was quoted as saying by the TOI report.
According to driver, the teenager insisted on driving the Porsche despite being drunk, DCP Zende said. "The driver called the teen's father, who instructed him to let his son drive. He asked him to sit in the passenger seat. The driver complied, and the teenager drove with two friends in the back seats before the accident occurred," the officer said.
The Pune police on Thursday also questioned the 17-year-old boy's grandfather, who allegedly also has links with gangster Chhota Rajan, in connection with the car accident. A forensic team examined the Porsche car involved in the accident on Thursday, an official said.
A friend of the accused teenager and the driver who were accompanying him in the car when the accident occurred in Kalyani Nagar area, were also questioned by the crime branch officials who are probing the case.
"Since the luxury car is in the name of the realty firm owned by the Agarwals, the grandfather of the minor, who is one of the owners of the firm, was questioned in regards to the ownership of the car," an officer said.
