Vishal Agarwal, father of the 17-year-old Pune Porsche accident accused, has been sent to police custody till May 24 (Friday).
Agarwal, a renowned real estate developer, was arrested from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad and brought to Pune crime branch team on Tuesday. He was produced before a court on Wednesday which has sent him to 2-day custody.
The father of the minor boy, accused in driving after consuming alcohol and ramming his Porsche Taycan into motorcycle, killing two techies in their early 20s, fled from Pune soon after his son was granted bail on Sunday evening.
Agarwal is facing charges of giving his minor son electric luxury sports sedan to drive despite being fully aware of the boy neither having a driving licence nor trained to drive.
The man has also been charged for letting his juvenile son consume alcohol.
The Pune Police in its remand copy said Agarwal was not cooperating with cops in investigation and therefore, they have sought his remand.
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The remand copy further said Vishal Agarwal was given notice to join the investigation before his arrest, but he mislead the cops by saying that he was in Shirdi, but actually he was in Aurangabad.
Police further informed that when Vishal Agarwal was arrested on Tuesday morning, he was carrying a basic Nokia mobile phone and was travelling in Kia car. Both have been confiscated by the cops.
Father claims a driver was sent with accused son
Addressing media after the hearing, Advocate Asim Saraode said, the father of the minor claimed that a driver was sent with his son on the day of the accident.
“On behalf of the intervener, we have argued against granting bail to the father of the accused. The court has rejected the basis on which he was asking for bail and granted him judicial custody till May 24. He tried to present an argument that he had sent a driver with his accused son. Then why was the driver not driving the car and the person with no licence was driving the car,” Advocate Saraode said.
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“I want to say with clarity that their association with gang members or their status as murderers has nothing to do with this case. The case is well discussed throughout the nation and the father is at fault as he failed to protect his minor son. There is absence of proper provisions to be mentioned in the FIR,” the lawyer further said.
When Agarwal was being taken to the court earlier today, protesters threw black ink at the police van which was carrying him and shouted slogans like ‘Inqalaab Zindabad’.
A report by PTI said members of the Vande Mataram Sanghatana carried out the ink attack on Agarwal. Some of the protesters, involved in the demonstration, were detained by the police.
Meanwhile, the Pune Police have also sought custody of the arrested staff of pubs which served alcohol to the minor boy and his friends on Saturday as well as on early hours of Sunday.
Cops said the arrested staff of pubs didn’t reveal that on whose membership the minor and his friends got entry and why the boy was served alcohol who later was involved in the car accident that killed two people.
During the investigation, police also found out that there was no board in the bar which mentioned alcohol can’t be served to minors.
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The minor driver of Porsche involved in Pune accident was detained and later released on bail by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on the conditions seen as “lenient” the included writing a 300-word essay on “effect of road accidents and their solution”, work with Yerawada traffic police for 15 days, studying traffic rules and regulations.
The boy was booked for rash and negligent driving, causing harm by endangering safety of lives, death by negligence under Sections 304A, 279, 337 and 338 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as provisions of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Act.
There was protest after the boy was granted bail, following which the Pune Police moved the Sessions Court, urging the minor accused to be treated as an adult as the crime is heinous.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Pune Police added some more stringent sections against the minor accused and added section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act (driving by a drunken person), sections 184 (action against those who violate traffic rules through rash or dangerous driving), 119 (age limit in connection with driving of motor vehicles) and 177 (general provision for punishment of offences).
With inputs from agencies
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