By Kirti Mishra
Pune | May 30: Would you believe we live in a nation, where a 17-year-old guy is old enough to drink and drive and claim the lives of two individuals but minor enough to get the punishment for the atrocities he had done? Yes, we are talking about the Porsche car crash in Pune that occurred on May 19.
Although road accidents are frequent in India, but accident cases involving a minor is not frequent. In 2022, there were 165,000 deaths due to road accidents. This statistic highlights issues with our infrastructure, police enforcement, and even our judiciary system. Why do these incidents continue to happen in India despite advancements in technology and stability?
The answer lies in the numerous loopholes and corruption within our traffic management and law enforcement systems. People often ignore the rules because they believe that paying a bribe can help them escape consequences.
The entire focus of this article is dwelled towards the recent car crash in Pune. The heinous crime was committed on the night of May 29 by Vedant Agrawal, who is the minor son Vishal Agrawal, a well-known real estate developer in Maharashtra.
According to the reports, the minor accused initially went to Cosie Bar Restaurant at around 10.30 PM to consume alcohol. Reportedly, the bar was at fault for serving alcohol to a minor. Vedant spent 48,000 rupees in just 90 minutes, likely leading the bar staff to overlook his age due to the large sum of money involved.
The negligence extends beyond the bar to the authorities responsible for monitoring such establishments. Police officers, who should conduct raids on these bars, often turn a blind eye in exchange for bribes, perpetuating the cycle of corruption.
Consequently, the bar staff served Vedant without verifying his age, ignoring the illegality of their actions. Afterward, Vedant went to another bar, the Black Club, where he continued drinking until 2 am till he becomes fully intoxicated.
After intoxication, he drove his lavish Porsche car at a speed of 200 to 240 km per hour, that too without vehicle registration. In Kalyani Nagar area of Pune district of Maharashtra, at around 2 am, he crashed into two software engineers, Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, who had moved to Pune from Madhya Pradesh with big dreams.
Tragically, this type of incident is not new in India, it happens daily. If we look at the data on traffic rule violations in 2022, we will find that there are total 168,491 deaths due to road accidents, in India.
However, the controversy related to incident didn’t stopped here, the crowd began to assault Vedant Agarwal, the child in conflict with law (CCL), after which he was taken to Yerwada Police Station. But instead of taking strict actions, the police served Vedant and his friends pizza and biryani.
Eight hours later, when his blood test was conducted, the sample had been tampered to show no alcohol content. Consequently, within 14 hours, the court granted him bail and only required him to write a 300-word essay on traffic rules and learn them as his punishment.
When these details surfaced on social media and quickly spread, questions arose about our judiciary and law enforcement. As a result, Inspector Rahul Jagdale from the Crime Branch at Yerwada Police Station and Assistant Police Inspector Vishwanath Todkari were both suspended.
Meanwhile on the medical side of this incident, Dr Ajay Taware, head of the forensic Medicine department was assigned the task to test the blood samples of the accused to determine the presence of alcohol. Along with him, Dr Shrihari Halnor and Taware’s helper Atul Ghatkamble were involved on this case.
One of the two doctors arrested for tampering with evidence and changing blood samples of the Pune teen who crashed his Porsche car and killed two IT professionals, allegedly received Rs 3 lakh from a staffer of the Sassoon General Hospital. The minor was taken to the hospital for medical tests after the fatal accident on May 19.
The staffer, identified as Atul Ghatkamble, was arrested on Monday, just hours after Dr Ajay Taware, head of the hospital’s Forensic Medicine department, and Dr Shrihari Halnor, the chief medical officer of the state-run hospital were also taken into custody.
Seeing the incident spread like wildfire on social media, people began calling for Vedant’s arrest, and many influencers raised their voices. As the issue gained nationwide attention, it also drew political scrutiny.
Political leaders criticized the case’s handling, questioning the impact of wealth and power on the judicial process.
Following this, Vishal Agarwal, Vedant’s father, and Surinder Agarwal, Vedant’s grandfather, knew they were at fault and that the police would arrest them. They attempted to flee but were tracked and arrested by the police using GPS.
A few days later, Vedant’s driver claimed that he was the one driving the car, not Vedant. On May 26, Surinder Agarwal was arrested for threatening and coercing the driver, Ganga Ram, to take the blame. Looking at absurd unfolding of events in this case, it seems there are more details yet to be discovered.
The honourable Juvenile Justice Board has directed to keep the Child in Conflict with Law (CCL) to keep in a rehabilitation until June 5.
A Juvenile Justice Board will decide whether or not the teenager involved in mowing down two people with his luxury race car earlier this week, should be tried as an adult, the lawyer representing the accused said.
The accident has highlighted the need for stricter enforcement of traffic laws and better oversight of establishments serving alcohol. It also raises questions about parental responsibility and the legal system’s approach to juvenile offenders involved in serious crimes. The Pune Police continue to investigate all aspects of the case, including why the car had no number plates and the exact circumstances leading up to the crash.
