As the prosecution in the Pune Porsche crash opened its case and presented its arguments towards the framing of charges before a court, Special Public Prosecutor Advocate Shishir Hiray submitted that they have technical and scientific evidence to probe the conspiracy involving all 10 accused.
Know about the incident:
In the early hours of May 19 last year, IT professionals Anish Awadhiya and his friend Ashwini Koshta were killed in Pune's Kalyani Nagar area after their motorcycle was hit by a Porsche allegedly driven by a 17-and-a-half-year-old son of a realtor in an inebriated condition.
The case hit national headlines after police unearthed attempts at a massive cover-up, including replacing the blood samples of the juvenile with that of his mother to negate alcohol tests.
What did the SPP say in court?
SPP Shishir Hiray told the court that evidence has been collected against all 10 accused.
The 10 accused comprise the juvenile's father and mother, Sassoon Hospital doctors Ajay Taware and Shrihari Halnor, staffer Atul Ghatkamble, middlemen Bashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, as well as Aditya Avinash Sood, Ashish Mittal, and Arun Kumar Singh. While the juvenile's mother is out on bail, the remaining nine are in jail.
"The accused tampered with evidence to mislead the judiciary. All 10 accused, including the juvenile's parents, are equally involved in the conspiracy. The conspiracy was aimed at protecting the inebriated juvenile and his co-passengers from legal consequences. To do so, evidence was fabricated. In this manner, fraud was committed on the judiciary," Hiray told the court.
The prosecution has the statements of witnesses, as well as scientific and technical evidence, to prove the conspiracy. Even the money exchanged in the offence related to the swapping of blood samples has been recovered, he told the court.
"We have DNA evidence that conclusively proves the juvenile's blood sample was replaced with that of his mother. Similarly, the blood sample of one co-passenger was replaced with that of his father, and another co-passenger's sample was swapped with that of a third person," Hiray said in his arguments.
He added that reports from the Test Identification Parade identifying the accused, CCTV footage placing them at various locations during the conspiracy, and handwriting analysis reports have been submitted.
"All 10 accused had the same intent, and it is not necessary that they were all present at the same location to hatch the conspiracy. The prosecution has urged the court to frame charges against all 10 accused jointly and individually under all applicable sections, as they are equally complicit in the offence," he said.
The defence will begin arguments on July 2.
