The Porsche car involved in the Pune car crash. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The family of one of the two engineers killed in the 2024 Pune Porsche accident has expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court granting bail to three accused of aiding the tampering of blood samples after the incident, saying it sends a wrong message to society.
The case relates to the incident on May 19, 2024, when a Porsche car allegedly driven by a 17-year-old boy under the influence of alcohol fatally knocked down two IT professionals — Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta — in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area.
The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to Amar Santish Gaikwad (alleged middleman), Aditya Avinash Sood and Ashish Satish Mittal (parents of two other juveniles in the car), while observing that parents are to be blamed for such incidents involving juveniles as they don’t have control over their children.
Mr. Sood and Mr. Mittal are accused of conspiracy to replace the blood samples of their children.
Mr. Mittal is a friend of the main accused’s father, while Mr. Sood is the father of the boy who was seated on the rear seat of the car. Mr. Gaikwad is a middleman who had allegedly taken ₹3 lakh to “manipulate” the blood report.
Reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision, Anish’s family alleged that justice had not been delivered and the grant of bail sent a wrong message to society.
Anish’s grandfather, Atmaram Awadhiya, told PTI Videos that the accused should not have been granted bail. Since the main accused belonged to a wealthy family, fraudulent means were adopted from the very beginning to protect the man, he alleged.
“It was such a major incident, and now bail has been granted,” he lamented.
Anish’s father, Omprakash Awadhiya, said the three accused who were granted bail had tampered with blood samples to shield the main accused. “We want the bail to be cancelled for the sake of justice,” he said.
The Supreme Court, while granting bail to the three accused, noted that they had been in jail for 18 months.
Mr. Sood (52) and Mr. Mittal (37) were arrested on August 19 last year. Their blood samples were used for tests in connection with two minors who were in the car along with the 17-year-old main accused at the time of the accident.
The Bombay High Court on December 16 last year rejected the bail pleas of eight accused, including Mr. Gaikwad, Mr. Sood and Mr. Mittal, in the case.
The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) had granted bail to the minor accused on lenient terms, sparking nationwide outrage. The bail conditions included writing a 300-word essay on road safety.
As bail to the accused juvenile triggered outrage, the Pune police approached the JJB to review its decision. The board then modified the order and sent the juvenile to an observation home. In June 2024, the high court ordered the release of the juvenile.
While the juvenile involved in the case was released from an observation home, 10 accused, including his parents, Vishal Agarwal and Shivani Agarwal, doctors Ajay Tawre and Shreehari Halnor, Sassoon Hospital’s staffer Atul Ghatkamble, Mr. Sood, Mr. Mittal and Arun Kumar Singh, and two middlemen, were sent to jail in the blood sample swapping case.
Published – February 03, 2026 09:56 am IST
