Supreme Court Grants Bail To Three Accused In Pune Porsche Case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to three persons accused in the 2024 Pune Porsche car accident case, which killed two IT professionals, Aneesh Awadhiya and  his friend Ashwini Koshta. 

The accused identified as Aditya Avinash Sood, Ashish Satish Mittal and Amar Santosh Gaikwad were arrested on charges of helping to tamper with blood samples after the Pune Porsche crash in May 2024.

What did the Top court say?

During the hearing, the bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, granted bail to the three accused, saying that they have already spent nearly 18 months in custody.

"Since there is no allegation against juvenile at the backseat of car, it is unlikely that there can be allegation against them. Since allegations were made, they are in jail since 18 months," the court said.

"It was submitted that even as against the driver who caused the accident the punishment is of three years. The juvenile is also being tried before the Juvenile Justice Board. Thus their continued incarceration will greatly prejudice and thus it was contended that bail be granted to the three appellants. Petitions allowed. Let them be produced before the concerned trial court. Let them be released on bail subject to the conditions imposed by the trial court," the top court said.

The Supreme Court also said that parents are not able to control their children. "Substance abuse is another thing but giving them (children) car keys and funds to have a gala time is unacceptable," the court said.

"Even if it is held that it was the juvenile who caused the accident, he is being procedured against before the JJB. Thus, it was contended that continued incarceration of these appellants in the absence of any progress in the trial and the possibility of delay due to more than a hundred prosecution witnesses would cause them prejudice," the bench noted.

What is the case?

On May 19, 2024, a speeding Porsche car without a registration number plate was allegedly driven by a juvenile under the influence of alcohol. The car rammed into a motorcycle in Pune's Kalyani Nagar at around 2:30 am, killing two software engineers Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta.

A 17-year-old boy was allegedly driving the Porsche car. Two of his minor friends and a driver were also there inside the vehicle.

Later as the investigation progressed, it came to light that the blood sample of the juvenile was allegedly swapped to  show no traces of alcohol consumption.

According to the investigation, the juvenile’s father, businessman Vishal Agarwal, his wife, and other associates conspired with doctors at Sassoon Hospital to replace the juvenile's blood sample with that of his mother.

Who are the three accused?

Ashish Satish Mittal (37), a Pune-based businessman and a friend of the father of the main accused. He is accused of providing his own blood sample to replace that of another juvenile present in the car.

Aditya Avinash Sood (52), who is the father of the boy sitting in the backseat of the car, is accused of providing blood sample on behalf of his son. 

Santosh Gaikwad acted as a middleman and allegedly received a sum of Rs 3 lakh for facilitating tampering with the blood sample.