Pune Porsche case: Deceased victim’s kin express disappointment on SC’s order for granting bail to three accused
Umaria/New Delhi: The family members of Anish Awadhiya, one of victims in the high-profile Pune Porsche hit-and-run case, expressed their disappointment after learning that three accused persons, who allegedly conspired in swapping blood samples to shield minors, were granted bail from the Supreme Court on Monday.
Anish’s grandfather Atmaram Awadhiya, a resident of Umaria district in Madhya Pradesh, said the Supreme Court’s order has left the entire family disappointed.
He added that the investigation has revealed that the father of the accused (a minor who was driving the car) paid a bribe for swapping blood samples to shield the minors.
“We are disappointed by today’s judgment. We will request the Supreme Court to cancel the bail order of the accused persons,” Awadhiya told IANS, claiming that since the accused minor boy is the son of a real-estate developer, politicians and senior officials are conspiring to weaken the case.
While Anish’s father Om Awadhiya, said that they were expecting justice from the apex court, but granting bail to three accused persons came as a disappointing decision.
“We had hoped for justice, but it doesn’t seem like that will happen. Because of the political pressure and money involved in this case, bail should not have been granted,” he added.
The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to three persons alleged to have conspired in swapping blood samples to shield minors involved in the high-profile Pune Porsche hit-and-run case.
Observing that they had been incarcerated for nearly 20 months, a bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan ordered the release of the three accused persons — Ashish Satish Mittal, Aditya Avinash Sood, and Amar Santhosh Gaikwad, subject to conditions set by the trial court.
The three are accused of having played a role in swapping blood samples of two minor occupants of the Porsche car — other than the alleged minor driver — who were allegedly under the influence of alcohol at the time of the fatal accident.
Mittal is said to be a friend of the father of the main accused, while Sood is the father of a minor who was seated in the back of the car at the time of the accident.
Gaikwad allegedly acted as a middleman and is accused of receiving Rs 3 lakh for facilitating the blood sample manipulation.
The case relates to a tragic accident on May 19, 2024, when a speeding Porsche car without a registration number plate rammed into a two-wheeler in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area, killing Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa as they were returning home from a hotel.
Ashwini Costa, who was also working as software engineer with Anish Awadhiya, was a resident of Jabalpur district in Madhya Pradesh.
Investigations revealed that a 17-year-old boy was allegedly driving the car under the influence of alcohol. Two of his minor friends and a driver were also present in the vehicle.
Police said the juvenile had consumed alcohol at two different hotels prior to the car crash.
During the probe, it emerged that the juvenile’s blood sample was allegedly swapped to conceal alcohol consumption.
Investigators claimed doctors at Pune’s Sassoon Hospital discarded the juvenile’s blood sample and replaced it with that of his mother.
The alleged conspiracy reportedly involved the juvenile’s father, a Pune-based businessman Vishal Agarwal, his wife, and other associates.
Prosecutors alleged that Rs 3 lakh was paid to hospital staff through intermediaries, with senior medical officers orchestrating the manipulation to ensure test reports showed no presence of alcohol.
The scope of the case widened with the arrest of Mittal and Sood.
Mittal is accused of providing his blood sample to replace that of another juvenile present in the car, while Sood allegedly did the same for his teenage son, who was neither driving nor named in the original FIR.