The Pune Police have arrested Surendra Agarwal, grandfather of the 17-year-old boy who rammed his sports car into two IT professionals, for threatening the family's driver to take blame for the incident.
Surendra Agarwal allegedly threatened the driver, Gangaram, and forced him to give statements that he was driving the vehicle during the accident that killed IT professionals Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta travelling on a bike on May 19, India Today reported.
The Pune crime branch had questioned Surendra Agarwal to know more about his son and grandson, and the conversations he had with them on the day of the accident.
Police said the Porsche was registered in the name of the realty firm of which Agarwal was one of the owners.
Earlier, CBI sources said that Surendra Agarwal was facing trial in a shootout case for allegedly making payments to gangster Chhota Rajan.
In a significant development in the Pune Porsche crash case, two officials from the Yerawada police station were suspended on May 24 for alleged dereliction of duty.
Inspector Rahul Jagdale and Assistant Police Inspector Vishwanath Todkari were suspended for "late reporting" and "dereliction of duty," according to Additional Commissioner of Police Manoj Patil.
The accident, which occurred in the Kalyani Nagar area, was initially registered at the Yerawada police station. Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar acknowledged that an internal inquiry revealed lapses by the police, particularly in the timely collection of the juvenile’s blood samples.
The samples, crucial to the investigation as the driver was alleged to have consumed alcohol at two pubs, were collected at 11 pm, several hours after the 3 am accident.
The case, originally registered under section 304(A) (death caused by negligence) of the IPC, was later updated to include section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
The incident, involving the teenage son of real estate developer Vishal Agarwal, has garnered significant attention, especially after the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) initially granted bail within 15 hours of the incident and asked the accused to write a 300-word essay among other bail conditions.
The JJB remanded the teenager to an observation home until June 5 following public outcry and a review plea by the police.