Pune, 27 May

Pune police on Monday claimed the blood samples of a 17-year-old boy allegedly involved in a car crash were thrown into a dustbin and replaced with another person's samples on the directions of a doctor from the Sassoon General Hospital.

The juvenile's father had called the doctor and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar claimed at a press conference here.

Two IT professionals died after their motorcycle was hit by a speeding Porsche allegedly driven by the minor in the early hours of May 19 in Kalyani Nagar area of Maharashtra's Pune city. The police claim the teenager was drunk at the time of the accident.

Kumar said they have arrested Dr Ajay Taware, head of the Sassoon General Hospital's Forensic Medicine department and Dr Shrihari Halnor, the chief medical officer of the state-run hospital. " It has been revealed in the investigation that the blood samples of the juvenile were replaced with some other person's samples and this was done on the direction of Dr Taware," he claimed.

On the instructions of Dr Taware, the juvenile's blood samples were thrown into a dustbin and replaced with the blood samples of another person, he said. "The investigation also revealed that it was the juvenile's father who had called Dr Ajay Taware and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples," Kumar claimed.

The senior police official further said that as an abundant precaution, they had taken one more sample of the juvenile for DNA sampling and it was sent to another hospital. "The report of the other hospital revealed the juvenile's blood report at the Sassoon Hospital was manipulated as the DNA of (blood samples of) both the reports did not match," he said.

Both the doctors did not have any idea that the police would take one more sample (of the accused juvenile), he said. "A probe is underway on whose blood samples were collected to replace with that of the juvenile's. We have recovered CCTV footages of the Sassoon Hospital and further probe is on," Kumar said.

He also said that Indian Penal sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and other relevant sections have been added to the case in which the juvenile has been booked. "We have made the juvenile's father co-accused in the present case," he said.

The teenager was initially granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board, which also asked him to write an essay on road accidents, but following outrage over the lenient treatment and a review application by the police, he was sent to an observation home till 5 June. The police have arrested the teenager's father, who is a realtor, and his grandfather in connection with the accident.