Porsche involved in Pune car crash was birthday gift for accused teenager: report

The Porsche involved in the Pune car accident in which two technicians lost their lives was a birthday present for the teenager accused of being behind the wheel at the time of the incident, according to a report by India today.

The publication spoke to Aman Wadhwa, a friend of the accused teenager's grandfather, who revealed that the latter's grandfather had shared a photo of the vehicle on a WhatsApp group two months before the accident, calling it a birthday present for his grandson.

Pune police arrested the accused's 17-year-old grandfather on Saturday, saying the teenager's father and grandfather had pressured the family's driver to take responsibility for the accident by offering him money and making threats.

The teenager's grandfather, Surendra Agarwal, was arrested for “forcible confinement” of the driver, and a court subsequently remanded him in police custody until May 28. The minor's father, in custody in another case registered in connection with the May 19 accident, was also named in the first information report. “After the accident, the driver told Yerawada police station that he was behind the wheel… But it was revealed that it was the teenager who was driving the car,” said police commissioner Amitesh Kumar to journalists.

After the driver left the Yerawada police station, the teenager's father, real estate agent Vishal Agarwal, and his grandfather took him in a car to his home in their bungalow, confiscated his phone and confined him there, the senior police official said.

“He was pressured to give a statement to the police as per their instructions,” Kumar said, adding that the driver was offered gifts and money for admitting to the car accident. Porsche driven by the teenager, and that he had also been threatened.

The Agarwal family offered to pay the driver “any amount he asked for”, the commissioner said, adding that his wife reached the spot the next day and released him.

“The driver was scared. He was summoned and his statement was recorded on Thursday, May 23. After corroborating the facts, an offense was registered against the minor’s father and grandfather (on the driver’s complaint),” Kumar said.

Vishal Agarwal and his father were booked under sections 365 (kidnapping) and 368 of the Indian Penal Code (concealment or unlawful detention). The police will seek judicial custody of Vishal in the case from the court on Monday.

(With PTI inputs)