Pune: A special court on Monday sent the aviation spares firm owner and a jeweller-cum-realtor, arrested on Aug 20 on the charge of conspiracy to manipulate the blood alcohol tests of two minors who accompanied the teenage Porsche Taycan driver, to judicial custody for 14 days. The firm owner is the father of one of the minors while the jeweller is a friend of the other minor's father, who is wanted in the case. Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Satish Govekar produced the duo before special judge Bhushan Kshirsagar at the end of their initial police remand and filed a report seeking a three-day extension.
Their questioning was needed to collect evidence relating to the conspiracy because the forensic science laboratory report had revealed that they had altered the blood alcohol test reports, additional public prosecutor Anil Kumbhar submitted. Kumbhar argued that the police were analysing the duo's call detail records to find out who else was involved in the conspiracy and at whose behest they swapped the minors' blood samples with those of theirs. The prosecution also sought time to probe financial transactions, if any, between the accused and others.
Defence lawyers Abid Mulani, Vineet Shetty, and R V Kapore opposed the police remand on grounds that the police had already filed a chargesheet and the two minors were not suspects in the car crash case. After hearing both sides, the court remanded the accused in judicial custody. The two were later sent to Yerawada central jail.
Two young software engineers were killed after the high-end car driven by the 17-year-old hit their bike at Kalyaninagar around 2.30am on May 19. The teenager was returning home at Wadgaon Sheri along with his two friends, also minors in the rear seats, and his family driver, after partying with a group of friends at two pubs in Mundhwa to celebrate the completion of their Standad XII board exam.
.
