Pune car crash case: Mother of minor accused under police scanner for swapping blood sample

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], May 30 (ANI): The blood sample of the minor accused in the Pune luxury car accident case was swapped with that of a woman, and a total of three suspects, including the accused's mother, are under the police scanner for the crime, officials said on Thursday.

A senior official with Pune Police said that there are three suspects, including the accused teenager's mother, who are under their scanner for their alleged involvement in swapping blood samples with the minor accused.

Pune police officials also confirmed that they haven't established any contact with the mother of the accused, and will do so as and when required.

Earlier, the police had confirmed that the doctors at Sassoon Hospital had replaced the blood sample of the juvenile accused in the luxury car crash with another one and threw the real sample in the hospital's dustbin.

The police have seized several DVRs of the CCTV footage from Sassoon Hospital, and the scrutiny of the CCTV footage is underway to find out who was present when the blood samples were taken.

The minor ploughed his swanky luxury car into two IT professionals, who were travelling on a bike, killing them on the spot on the night of May 19.

The accused has been detained at an observation home on the order of the Juvenile Justice Board. He was earlier granted bail in the case but was later sent to the observation home for 14 days until June 5.

The Pune Police commissioner earlier said that efforts were on to try the minor accused as an adult.

Meanwhile, Pune Police also produced two doctors from Sassoon Hospital, Ajay Taware and Atul Ghatkamble, as their police custody ended today.

The police said they had found the blood sample of the minor instead of a female; therefore, they needed to do the custodial interrogation of the accused.

Stating that they have recorded statements of some eyewitnesses, the police said they need to find out under whose instructions the swapping of blood samples was done. They said they needed to probe some social media chats.

The police said they had found that some financial transactions were done, so they needed to conduct some searches to probe the financial angle in the case.

"We have also added an Anti-Corruption Act in the case as the accused doctors are government servants and they have taken a bribe to do the job, under Section 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act," the police said.

After hearing both sides, the Pune district court sent the two accused doctors to police custody till June 5.

The father and grandfather of the minor accused have been booked in the case.

The FIR has been filed under IPC Sections 342, 365, 368, 506, and 34 on the complaint of the family driver, Gangadhar, Pune Police officials said.

Gangadhar had lodged a complaint alleging that he was being threatened by the accused's family to take responsibility for the crime instead of the minor. (ANI)