Porsche crash: Juvenile’s parents, other accused to stay in custody till June 14

Mumbai: The police custody of the parents of a 17-year-old minor who is suspected of being involved in a fatal Porsche car accident and another accused in an evidence destruction case was extended by a Pune court on Monday till June 14.

The mother Shivani and father Vishal Agrawal, a realtor, were detained in connection with the case because they may have exchanged blood samples from the minor, who was allegedly intoxicated when the May 19 incident in Kalyani Nagar claimed the lives of two IT workers riding motorbikes.

Shivani Agarwal was arrested on June 1 after the revelation that the boy’s blood samples were replaced with hers. Her husband Vishal Agrawal was arrested for allegedly being involved in the destruction of evidence.

Besides the Agrawal couple, one Ashpak Makandar, who acted as a middleman between them and doctors from state-run Sassoon Hospital, where blood samples were collected, were produced before the court on Monday.

The prosecution sought an extension of the police custody of the trio arguing they wanted to find out where the blood samples of the juvenile were disposed off.

It told the court that middleman Makandar was paid Rs 4 lakh by the driver of the teenager’s father. Of this, Rs 3 lakh was given further (to Sassoon doctors) for replacing the juvenile’s blood samples.

“Rs 3 lakh has been recovered from Dr Srihari Halnor and Sassoon Hospital employee Atul Ghatkamble and we need to recover the remaining Rs 1 lakh,” said the investigating officer.

Defence lawyer Prashant Patil opposed the custody extension plea of the teen’s parents, saying they have already spent several days in police remand and there was no need for their further custodial interrogation.

The minor boy has been sent to an observation home.

With PTI inputs