The Porsche car accident in Pune on May 19, in which two young engineers were mowed down by a drunk minor son of a local builder, has become a major political issue in Maharashtra.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said if a truck driver was involved in a fatal accident he would have been immediately arrested. However in the Pune case, the accused was treated with kid gloves by the police because his father was a builder, he said. The Congress leader alleged that the well-heeled were supported by the BJP-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra. Stung by this criticism, Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is in charge of the home portfolio, asked Gandhi not to politicise the accident.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) slammed the government in general and Fadnavis in particular for allegedly helping the minor boy by invoking softer sections of law. Opposition leader in the state assembly and senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar targeted the Pune police for allegedly introducing gaping holes in the investigation with a view to help the minor boy, who spent Rs48,000 in a pub in Kalyani Nagar of Pune, before getting behind the wheel of the Porsche.
Wadettiwar also demanded a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to unearth all the ramifications of the accident. He wondered why an SIT had been constituted for the Ghatkopar billboard tragedy and not in the Porsche case. Wadettiwar alleged that proper sections of law were not applied in the Pune case and claimed that the police were misleading people.
The 17-year-old boy and son of a well-known builder was arrested for killing two youths in a car accident on Sunday morning in Kalyani area of Pune. According to police reports, a luxury Porsche, driven by the teenager, collided with a motorcycle, instantly killing Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta. The crash, captured on CCTV, revealed that the car was being driven at 200kmph and that too on a narrow road at night.
Awadhiya and Koshta, both IT engineers, were returning from a get-together when around 2.15am, their bike was hit from behind by the speeding Porsche. The aftermath of the incident has been marked by intense public outcry, particularly following the Juvenile Justice Board’s decision to grant the minor bail just 15 hours after his detention. The board also imposed a series of rehabilitative conditions, including mandatory counselling, a de-addiction program, and a 300-word essay on road safety. This lenient response has been widely criticised given the severity of the accident.
Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena (UBT) demanded the immediate suspension of Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar for gross mishandling of the incident. He accused the police of corruption. Raut said for long residents of Kalyani Nagar, where the pub patronised by the minor is situated, have been complaining to Kumar about the nuisance caused by a large number of pubs in their neighbourhood. But Kumar failed to take any action.
With the controversy attracting high traction in the social media, Fadnavis visited Pune yesterday unannounced and summoned Kumar for a meeting to review the probe into the accident. However, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve alleged that Fadnavis’ visit was aimed at helping the accused and his family. He noted that Fadnavis visited Pune only after there was an uproar.
“Was Fadnavis’ visit to Pune meant to hide the blunders of police,” Danve asked. He noted that the police had not taken any action when the son of a senior bureaucrat misbehaved with a woman in Navi Mumbai some months ago. “Why did Fadnavis not act then?” he asked. He alleged that local MLA Sunil Tingre of the NCP (Ajit Pawar) had put pressure on the police. Danve said Tingre had visited the police station on the night of the accident, he claimed.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar targeted the Pune police for making inquiries into the relationship between the two victims of the accident instead of focussing on the crime. Ambedkar noted that an alcohol test was conducted on the minor full eight hours after the incident. The police also treated the drunk youth to pizza that night. A BJP leader said in confidence: “The incident has shown the home department under Fadnavis in a very poor light. It’s high time Fadnavis weeded out corrupt elements from the force. Recently, a policeman and his associates committed daylight dacoity in the house of a Mumbai hotelier and vanished with Rs25 lakh in cash.”
Former home minister Anil Deshmukh asked Fadnavis: “Earlier, you said that opposition parties can demand my resignation even if a dog comes under a car and dies in a road accident. Now, two poor youths have been crushed under a car but Pune police are feeding the accused pizza and burger and taking care of his release on bail. Fadnavis should tell me why his resignation should not be demanded?” Fadnavis replied: “Why are you [media] asking my reaction against a man who is facing charges of Rs100 crore in an extortion case?”
