PUNE: The father of the minor accused in the accident involving a luxury vehicle in Maharashtra’s Pune has been sent to police custody until May 24, officials said on Wednesday. People threw ink at the police van in which the accused’s father was brought to court for the hearing.
The Juvenile Justice Board also issued a notice to the 17-year-old accused in the case, asking him to appear before them on Wednesday. Two young IT professionals, identified as Ashwini Koshta and Aneesh Awadhia, both from Madhya Pradesh, were killed in the accident that took place in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar on Sunday (May 19).
According to officials, the father of the minor accused was not cooperating in the investigation, prompting Pune police to seek him for further questioning in the case. When the police gave him notice to join the investigation before his arrest, he misled them by stating that he was in Shirdi. He was, however, found to be in Aurangabad.
Police also sought the custody of the staff of the bar where the accused teenager and his friend were served liquor. Allegedly, the 17-year-old minor later crashed his luxury car into a motorcycle, killing two persons in Pune. The police, during their investigation, also found that there was no board on the premises of the bar that said alcohol couldn’t be served to minors.
Advocate Asim Saraode said that the court has rejected the basis on which the father was asking for bail and granted him judicial custody till May 24.
“On behalf of the intervener, we have argued against granting bail to the father of the accused. The court has rejected the basis on which he was asking for bail and granted him judicial custody until May 24. He tried to present an argument that he had sent a driver with his accused son. Then why was the driver not driving the car and the person with no licence was driving the car? I want to say with clarity that their association with gang members or their status as murderers has nothing to do with this case. The case is well discussed throughout the nation and the father is at fault as he failed to protect his minor son,” he said.
“There is the absence of proper provisions to be mentioned in the FIR. Why the police registered an offence and filed two FIRs is the question and it can be taken to the high court also. There is no mention of the prohibition act and its provisions and there is complete manipulation of the FIR. Maybe the police have been pressurised by someone and that is why they are trying to mislead the court on some level, but now societal pressure is compelling the police to be on track with the law,” the advocate added.
The father of the juvenile accused was detained on May 21.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Pune Excise Department took decisive action by sealing the Cosie Bar and the Black Bar in Pune. These establishments allegedly served liquor to the minor before the accident, officials reported. The managers of the bars were also arrested by the police.
The incident occurred in the early hours of May 19 when a luxury car, driven by the accused juvenile, collided with a motorcycle near Kalyani Nagar in Pune. The crash resulted in the untimely deaths of two young individuals, identified as Ashwini Koshta and Aneesh Awadhia – both from Madhya Pradesh. The juvenile driver was apprehended but later given bail by the Juvenile Justice Board.
“The Juvenile Justice Board granted bail to the 17-year-old accused involved in the car accident in Pune,” said the juvenile accused’s advocate, Prashant Patil. The bail comes with several conditions aimed at rehabilitation and awareness.
Earlier, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Chairperson Priyank Kanoongo on Tuesday urged activists and media personnel to refrain from revealing the identity of the minor accused in the Pune car accident case. He emphasized that doing so would be a crime under the Juvenile Justice Act, which prohibits disclosing the identity of juvenile offenders or victims.
On May 21, Pune Commissioner of Police (CP) Amitesh Kumar firmly stated that the police have taken the most stringent possible measures in response to the car accident in the city that claimed two lives. (ANI)