- Thursday, February 13, 2025
The 17-year-old reportedly consumed alcohol to celebrate his Class 12 results before hitting a motorcycle in the wee hours of May 19, killing two engineers who were returning home.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE police in the western Indian city of Pune have arrested the father of a 17-year-old boy, whose racing luxury vehicle crashed into a motorcycle killing two persons early on Sunday (19), from Aurangabad in the western state of Maharashtra. The father of the accused is a real-estate developer.
Some executives of a bar where the teen was served alcohol before he caused the fatal accident were also arrested.
The incident happened in the Kalyani Nagar area of Pune, known to be one of India’s major information technology (IT) hubs.
According to police reports, the minor was behind the wheels of a grey Porsche and rammed into the two-wheeler, killing its riders Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Kostha. The crash was captured on CCTV that showed the high-end car speeding at around 200 kilometres per hour in a narrow lane.
Read: Three women from Gujarat killed in US after speeding SUV flung into air, crashes into trees
The boy’s father, Vishal Agarwal, has been charged under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act. While the first deals with “willful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses,” the second deals with supplying a child with intoxicating liquor or drugs.
The accident happened around 2.15 am local time when the two victims — both IT engineers — were returning from a dinner party. The car hit them from the back. While one was reportedly dead on the spot, the other succumbed to his injuries in a hospital soon after.
Read: Indian couple, infant among 4 dead in multi-vehicle crash on Canada highway
According to the Pune Police commissioner, Amitesh Kumar, the minor was celebrating his Class 12 results at a local bar where he was seen consuming alcohol before the accident, WION reported.
In Maharashtra, the legal age of drinking is 25. Indian laws also do not permit driving below the age of 18.
The accused teenager was granted bail by a court in Pune in 15 hours. He was granted bail on the condition that he would work with traffic police for 15 days, write a 300-word essay on accidents, undergo treatment to quit drinking and receive psychiatric counselling.
It led to a massive outrage. The family of Aneesh, one of the victims, expressed anger over the decision to grant bail to the teen driver and said they wanted stricter punishment. One of the members of Aneesh’s family even called the incident as murder and not an accident.
The father of Ashwini, the other victim, said their dreams were shattered by the incident. Suresh Koshta said Ashwini had studied in Pune and got a job in December, India Today reported. Her brother Sampreet said stringent action should be taken to prevent such rash driving incidents.
Sanjay Raut, leader of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), an opposition party in Maharashtra, on Tuesday (21) demanded removal of the police commissioner in connection with the incident. Talking to reporters in state capital Mumbai, Raut alleged the police gave a false report in connection with the incident and wondered whom the Pune police chief was trying to save.
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy and home minister Devendra Fadnavis have called for stringent action in the case, the Pune police chief said on Tuesday.
“The chief minister, the deputy chief minister and home minister (Fadnavis), and the (Pune) guardian minister (Deputy CM Ajit Pawar) have given clear instructions to the police to take stringent action in this case. The state Director General of Police has also instructed for strong action,” Amitesh Kumar told reporters in Pune.
He also addressed the public’s concerns that the police were not taking adequate action in the case.
(With PTI inputs)
