Pune, 24 May

Attempts were made to project that the 17-year-old minor who allegedly crashed his Porsche car into a motorbike killing two persons was not at the wheel and instead, an adult was driving it at the time of the accident, said Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar on Friday.

The city police chief told reporters an internal inquiry has pointed to lapses on the part of some cops while registering the case and action will be taken against them for destruction of evidence. He rejected allegations of "preferential" treatment to the juvenile inside the police station.

“During our investigation, it has clearly emerged that the juvenile was driving the car and we have already collected all the necessary chronological evidence. For example, when the juvenile left the house, the entry on the security register shows that he left with the car,” he said.

On the basis of technical and CCTV evidence, it is confirmed that the car was being driven by the juvenile, the police chief said.

Eyewitnesses have also corroborated that the teenager, son of real estate developer Vishal Agarwal, was driving the Porsche at the time of the accident, he said.

Kumar said attempts were made to show that an adult, the family driver, was at the wheel and not the teen when the vehicle fatally knocked down two persons in the city’s Kalyani Nagar area around 3 am on Sunday. “We are investigating these things and will take action against those who made such attempts, under section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the IPC,” he said.

Asked about blood samples, Kumar said the juvenile was sent to Sassoon Hospital around 9 am on Sunday after an offence was registered. “There was a delay in taking blood samples as they were collected at 11 pm but the blood report is not the pillar of our case,” he said.

He said the case has been registered under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and that the juvenile was fully aware that driving in an inebriated state would lead to this kind of offence and people’s lives would be lost.

As a pre-emptive measure, extra blood samples were collected for testing at another lab to ensure that both samples and DNA reports were of the same person. “We have not received the blood reports but the process is being expedited,” he said.

In the initial FIR, section 304 A (death by negligence) applied but, it was revised with section 304 the same day as the crime warranted that section, he said. Evidence from all corners is being collected to make it a “watertight” case. An ACP-level officer is being entrusted with the probe to ascertain if there was any attempt to tamper with or destroy evidence.

He also said special counsels will be appointed to aggressively put forth the police side in court. Kumar responded to complaints about lapses and allegations that some cops were “managed”, saying the police have taken a stringent approach from the beginning. “So it is not correct to say there was pressure on police or dereliction on the part of cops. But a probe is underway to find out why section 304 was not added in the first place,” he said,

The senior police official also rejected allegations that pizzas and burgers were provided to the juvenile at the police station. “There is no truth in the ‘pizza party allegation’,” he said. There are complaints that some eyewitnesses were pressured, he said, adding, “If such things come to the fore, strict action will be taken against the police officer concerned,” he said.

A Porsche, allegedly driven by the 17-year-old, who the police claim was drunk at the time, fatally knocked down two motorbike-borne software engineers in the city in the early hours of Sunday.

The teenager was then produced before the Juvenile Justice Board which granted him bail while asking him to write a 300-word essay. Following an outcry over quick bail and the police's review plea, the JJB on Wednesday remanded the teen, son of real estate developer Vishal Agarwal, to the observation home till 5 June. The police have also arrested the teenager’s father.