Pune Porsche case: Police moved higher court against JJB order of refusing to try accused as adult

PUNE:The Pune Police have moved an application in the sessions court in Pune, challenging the Juvenile Justice Board’s (JJB) decision to reject their plea to try the 17-year-old accused in the fatal Porsche car crash as an adult, said Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray on Wednesday.

Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray, representing the state in the case, said the prosecution argued before the court that the JJB’s decision was flawed. “We have filed the application in the sessions court on August 7. Once it is listed, a hearing date will be fixed,” he added.

An officer from Pune Police confirmed that after securing the necessary approval from the district collector, the police approached the sessions court to contest the JJB order.

Last month, the JJB turned down the police’s application, ruling that the offence did not fall under the category of a “heinous crime”.

The incident occurred in the early hours of May 19, 2024, 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 condition of the bail created huge controversy.

The minor driver was allegedly served alcohol at a restaurant and bar despite being underage. The incident sparked widespread outrage and controversy over the alleged leniency shown to the accused and the influence of apolitical connections.

Also, the parents of the juvenile driver allegedly bribed the doctors to swap his blood samples with those of his mother and similarly at the government-run hospital in Pune after the incident.

On April 22 this year, the Supreme Court granted interim bail to the mother of the teenage main accused in the Pune Porsche case after she was arrested for allegedly tampering with evidence by swapping her son’s blood sample in an attempt to shield him from legal consequences, whereas the father and doctors are still in jail.

The case against the main accused, a minor, is ongoing before the Juvenile Justice Board, Pune. A case was registered by the Pune crime branch unit after the accident against the parents of the accused minor and doctors of Sassoon Hospital, including two others. They were booked for allegedly conspiring to tamper with evidence and manipulating the blood sample.

Last year, on September 26, Pune Police submitted a supplementary report before the JJB and added charges of destruction of evidence against the juvenile accused. Earlier, the police had charged the juvenile accused with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. (ANI)