Pune teen case: The 17-year-old accused was caught on camera drinking ahead of the crash
The 17-year-old boy whose late night Porsche dash on a Pune road left two 24-year-old engineers dead, has told the police that he cannot remember what happened that night because he was drunk, according to sources.
The teen, who is now in an observation home as the Juvenile Justice Board takes a call on the police request to try him as an adult, was caught on camera drinking shortly before the accident occurred and had allegedly spent Rs 48,000 at a pub.
During his interrogation, the teen has claimed an inability to recollect what happened that night, the sources have said.
The police are also trying to recover the original blood sample of the minor, which was allegedly replaced to get him off the hook.
Multiple FIRs have been registered in connection with the accident after the crime branch's investigation revealed an elaborate plot to shield the teen accused.
One of the cases relates to the accident, another is in connection with serving alcohol to a minor and a third involves the boy's father, a prominent realtor, for allowing him to drive without a licence. Separate cases have been registered against the teen's parents for their alleged attempt to destroy evidence and his grandfather for allegedly kidnapping the family's driver and threatening him to take the blame for the accident.
Two doctors of the state-run Sassoon Hospital, including the head of the forensic department, have been arrested for allegedly switching blood samples to manipulate the report.
The boy's grandfather, father and mother have been arrested for their alleged role in the cover-up attempt. The teen's mother, whose sample was tested instead of her son's, has told police that doctors at the Sassoon Hospital collected her sample without giving her a clear reason and has denied that she tried to protect her son.
The accident, which left software engineers Ashwini Kostha and Aneesh Awadhiya dead, sparked nationwide outrage after the teen was granted bail within 15 hours of the accident on conditions widely seen as flimsy -- a 300-word essay, 15 days of work with traffic police and psychiatric treatment and counselling for his drinking habit.
Soon after, the Juvenile Justice Board modified its order and sent him to an observation home.