Pune car crash police question minor accused's grandfather friend

    Pune, May 23 (PTI) Pune Police on Thursday questioned the grandfather of a 17-year-old boy who allegedly crashed his high-end car into a motorbike killing two persons earlier this week.
    The accused teenager's friend and a driver who were accompanying him in the car during Sunday's fatal accident in Kalyani Nagar area here were also questioned by the police.
     The teenager was remanded to the observation home by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Wednesday.
     His grandfather was summoned by the police on Thursday in connection with an offence registered against the juvenile's father and staff members and the owner of two liquor-serving establishments in Mundhwa area, a crime branch official said.

    The senior citizen was confronted with his son, real estate developer Vishal Agarwal who has already been arrested, for the corroboration of certain facts, the official said.
    While the minor's grandfather was being taken to face his son at the police commissioner's office, some reporters tried to ask him questions, following which a man accompanying him heckled and obstructed them. It led to a heated exchange before the police intervened.
    A rap song purportedly featuring the teenager, boasting about how he got away with the car crash, went viral on social media, but police clarified that it was a fake account and the teenager had nothing to do with the video.
    Meanwhile, Ajay Bhosale, a former Shiv Sena corporator, accused the teenager's grandfather of having links with the underworld.
     Bhosale, Shiv Sena's candidate from Wadgaon Sheri assembly constituency in 2009, was allegedly shot at during the election campaign in Koregaon Park area. He escaped unhurt, his driver Shakil Sayyad was injured.
    The case is currently being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the grandfather of the teenager has been named as accused number 6 in it, while gangster Chhota Rajan, currently in jail, is accused number 3.
    As per an order passed by a court, there was a dispute over property between the grandfather of the juvenile and his brother. The accused sought the help of Vijay Salvi, alleged henchman of Rajan, to persuade his brother to hand over his share of the property.
    Speaking to a Marathi channel, Bhosale said he had friendly relations with the brother. "He called Chhota Rajan and told him that I was his brother's close friend and supported him, and gave my 'supari' (contract) to Chhota Rajan to eliminate me," Bhosale claimed.

    The accused grandfather is currently on anticipatory bail in the case.
    A Porsche, allegedly driven by the 17-year-old, who the police claim was drunk at the time, fatally knocked down two motorbike-borne software engineers in the early hours of Sunday. The teenager was then produced before the JJB which granted him bail while asking him to write a 300-word essay.


Following an outcry over quick bail and the police's review plea, the JJB on Wednesday remanded the boy to the observation home till June 5.








    "The Child-in-Conflict with Law (CCL) was immediately sent to the Nehru Udyog Kendra observation home, located at Yerawada, where he is staying with the other CCLs," the official from the facility said.
A senior police official said during his stay at the observation home, the juvenile will undergo psychological assessments.
The police have registered an FIR against the minor under IPC sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 304 A (causing death by negligence), 279 (rash driving) and relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act.
    A sessions court earlier on Wednesday remanded the boy's father, and two employees of Hotel Blak Club where the boy had allegedly consumed alcohol, in police custody.

    The police registered a case against his father under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act, and against the owner and employees of two bars which the boy had visited before Sunday's accident for "serving alcohol to an underage person".
    Section 75 deals with "willful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses," while section 77 deals with supplying a child with intoxicating liquor or drugs.
    The Regional Transport Office has started the process to cancel the temporary registration of the Porsche, an official said. The electric luxury sports sedan – Porsche Taycan – was imported in March by a dealer in Bengaluru before being sent to Maharashtra on temporary registration.


     Even as the Pune car crash incident made headlines, a similar tragedy took place in Mumbai on Thursday when a 32-year-old man died after his motorbike collided with a juvenile’s motorbike in south Mumbai.
     Irfan Nawab Ali Shaikh was rushed to J J Hospital but succumbed to his injuries.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)