Pune Porsche crash: Teen driver's father, two bar employees remanded to police custody

Pune: On Wednesday, a sessions court sent in the father of a 17-year-old boy, who allegedly involved in a car accident, along with two employees of a pub in police custody until May 24. The teenage boy's father, Vishal Agarwal, a real estate developer, and employees of Black Club pub Nitesh Shevani and Jayesh Gavkar were presented before Additional Sessions Judge S P Ponkshe.

The boy, before the accident, had allegedly consumed alcohol at the pub. Police registered a case against the teenager's father under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act, and against the owner and employees of two bars, which the boy had visited before Sunday's accident for 'serving alcohol to an underage person.' Section 75 deals with "willful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses," while section 77 deals with supplying a child with intoxicating liquor or drugs.

According to the FIR, Agarwal gave his son the car despite knowing that the boy did not have a driving license, thus endangering his life, and allowed him to party even while knowing that he drinks alcohol. A group of friends were returning on motorbikes around 3.15 am on Sunday after a party when the speeding Porsche allegedly driven by the boy hit one of the motorcycles at Kalyani Nagar junction, killing two riders, a man and a woman, both 24 years old.

While the boy is out on bail, the father was arrested from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The prosecution demanded police custody of seven days for the father and the other two, stating that the police wanted to investigate why the father allowed his son to drive the car which did not have a number plate. They also need to investigate why the man absconded after a case was registered against the son. He had in his possession a simple no-frills mobile phone when arrested, and "the police need to investigate where are his other phones," said the public prosecutor.

Seeking police custody for Jayesh Gavkar, the employee at Hotel Black Club, the prosecution said they wanted to find out against whose membership the juvenile and his friends were given entry. The driver of the Porsche who was with the juvenile at the time of the accident had offered to drive, but the boy declined the offer, the prosecution claimed. After hearing arguments, the judge remanded the three accused in police custody till May 24. Elsewhere, the Juvenile Justice Board has issued a notice to the boy, asking him to appear before it on Wednesday, after police approached the board with a petition to review its bail order.

Earlier, the 17-year-old was granted bail on a surety of Rs 7,500 with an assurance from his grandfather to keep him away from bad company, as per the order passed by the Juvenile Justice Board on Sunday. The board also directed him to visit the Regional Transport Office, and study traffic rules and submit a presentation to the Board within 15 days. "The juvenile will write an essay of 300 words on the topic of road accidents and their solutions," the order read.
(With PTI Inputs)