Porsche case: Minor accused's remand to juvenile home extended by a week

Pune: The Pune Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Wednesday extended the remand of a minor -- accused of killing two techies in his Porsche car on May 19 in an allegedly drunken state -- to an observation facility by a week till June 12.

The 17-year-old boy was presented before the JJB after his previous remand of 15 days ended, and the police sought a further extension of 14 days.

In the same case, a Pune Sessions Judge V.R. Kachare extended by five days the police remand of the boy's parents, two senior doctors and a peon of the Sassoon General Hospital -- all accused in a separate case involving the tinkering of the accused minor's blood sample.

Their police custody ended on Wednesday, and they were presented before the court, which granted an extension of police custody till June 10.

Earlier, a Pune court had sent the boy's father, builder Vishal S. Agarwal and grandfather Surendrakumar B. Agarwal to judicial custody for allegedly abducting the family driver, pressuring, bribing and threatening him to take the blame for the accident to save their son.

As the investigation progressed in the case in the past fortnight, several startling details emerged and the involvement of many others, including the boy's mother Shivani V. Agarwal, came to the fore.

Accordingly, the Pune Police has been enhancing the charges against all the accused, for different offences ranging from the vehicle crash to abduction to tampering with blood samples and reports, besides a clampdown on the pub owners-managers who served alcohol to the group of minors on the night of May 18-19, barely hours before the fatal crash.

Following a nationwide uproar, the Pune Police, State Excise Department and Pune Municipal Corporation launched a massive clean-up operation of bars and pubs flouting rules and regulations in hotels or restaurants, with over four dozen establishments identified so far and strict action initiated against them.