Pune Porsche Accident Case: Trial Court Denies Bail To Accused, Says He 'Tampered With Evidence Even Before Victims' Blood Splashes Could Dry'

Observing that the accused tampered with vital evidence even before the splashes of blood of the victim dried from the accident spot, a Pune court on Wednesday (August 22) dismissed the bail applications of the all the accused in the infamous Pune Porsche hit-and-run case.

District Judge UM Mudholkar noted that the applicants - Shivani and Vishal, the parents of the child in conflict with the law (CCL), resorted to tampering or evidence within hours of the accident in which two lives were lost.

"After perusing the entire charge­sheet which runs into almost 900 pages clearly goes to show that even before the splashes of blood lying on the road of the victims could get dried, the tampering with the evidence commenced and even concluded to a large extent, with the help of monitory influence or otherwise at odd hours of midnight," the judge said in the order.

The judge pointed out that 'tampering is in the genes / DNA of modus of commission of crime.' It, therefore, refused to impose the 'stringent condition' of not tampering with the evidence.

"...there is sure chance that the same would be tampered by one way or another by utilizing the same modus. In order to avoid this and to have legally expected result to be on record the only option available before this court would be to reject the prayer of applicants to release them on bail, at least, till the evidence of most of the material witnesses is recorded by the court during the course of trial," the judge said.

The court pointed out that though most of the evidence in the case is of documentary or electronic nature, but it also includes statements of several witnesses and there are full chances that the accused might try to "win over" the witnesses.

Therefore, the court opined that granting bail at this stage, would certainly lead to tampering of the evidence and thwart the legal course, which could result in denying justice to the victims, their family members and also the society at large.

"Even otherwise, granting of bail in such a serious matter, may shake the conscious of the society and it would ultimately lead to sending a wrong message to the society at large. Hence, in the considered view of this court, no case is made out by applicants to have their release on bail," the judge observed while denying bail.

The court was dealing with bail applications filed by Vishal Agarwal, his wife Shivani Agarwal, Dr Shirhari Harnol, his associates Dr Ajay Taware, Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad.

According to the prosecution case, the CCL drove negligently the Porsche car at a high speed on midnight of May 19, 2024, and mowed down Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta, who were on a bike. Within hours of the accident, it is alleged that Vishal and Shivani paid Rs 3 lakh to Dr Harnol, who was to take the blood samples of the CCL to ascertain the alcohol levels in his blood since it was contended that the CCL drove the car under the influence of alcohol. It is further alleged that after receiving the amount, Dr Harnol took the samples of Shivani's blood and replaced it with the original blood sample of the CCL. The other accused - Taware, Makandar and Gaikwad, also facilitated the transaction.

Appearance:

Senior Advocate Harshad Nimbalkar along with Advocates Sudhir Shah, Rishikesh Ganu and Prasad Kulkarni argued for the Applicants.

Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray represented the State.

Case Title: Shivani Vishal Agarwal vs State (Criminal Bail Application 3780 of 2024)

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