New Delhi : The Supreme Court has granted bail to three accused in the 2024 Pune Porsche case, wherein two people were killed. During the hearing, the bench comprising Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, said that there was no point in multiplying the witnesses in the case when the petitioners have been in undertrial custody for more than three years. As many as 159 witnessess are yet to be examined in the matter.
Even if it is held that it was the juvenile who caused the accident, he is being procedured against before the JJB. In its order, the Supreme Court observed that continued incarceration would cause undue prejudice to the accused, particularly given the nature of the allegations and the maximum punishment prescribed for the principal offence.
“Since there is no allegation against juvenile at the backseat of car, it is unlikely that there can be allegation against them. Since allegations were made, they are in jail since 18 months. It was submitted that even as against the driver who caused the accident the punishment is of three years. The juvenile is also being tried before the Juvenile Justice Board.
The case arises from a fatal accident that occurred at around 2.30 am on May 19, 2024, in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area. A Porsche car, allegedly driven by a juvenile under the influence of alcohol, rammed into a motorcycle, killing 24-year-old software engineers Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, both from Madhya Pradesh.
Santosh Gaikwad is alleged to have acted as a middleman and to have received ₹3 lakh for facilitating the manipulation of blood samples. Ashish Mittal, a Pune-based businessman and a friend of the juvenile’s father, is accused of providing his own blood sample to replace that of another juvenile present in the car.