Pune Porsche crash: Doctors received Rs 300,000 to replace minor's blood samples

A new twist was added to the Pune Porsche car accident case after a peon of Sassoon General Hospital was arrested by the police for allegedly acting as a middleman and collecting Rs 300,000 (approx. $3609) as a bribe for two senior doctors.

The peon was supposed to hand over the bribe to the two doctors after they replaced the blood samples of the teen driver with that of another person who did not have any traces of alcohol.

The bribe was recovered by the Pune Police’s Crime Branch on Monday (May 27). The two doctors - Dr Ajay Tawade and Dr Hari Harnor of Sasoon Hospital- were also arrested by the Pune Crime Branch on Monday (May 27). After the arrests, a three-member committee was set up by the Maharashtra government to look into the manipulation of blood samples.

What did the police find in the investigation?

In the investigation, it was found by the police that the accused teen's fatherand Dr Tawade spoke over the phone on the day of the incident.

"The juvenile's father had called the doctor and offered him allurements to replace the blood samples," said the police.

Also Read:India's Pune Porsche crash: Two doctors arrested for tampering with blood sample of accused teen

Dr Tawade hinted that the blood samples of the minor were replaced with those of a doctorto remove the traces of alcohol. "I will not keep quiet. I will take everyone's name," said Dr Tawadeduring the investigation, as per media reports.

Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar on Monday said that the blood samples which were at the hospital and sent for forensic tests did not belong to the juvenile accused.

"Around 11 am on May 19, a blood sample (of the teen) that was taken at Sassoon Hospital was thrown in a dustbin and the blood sample of another person was taken and sent to the forensic lab. During the investigation, we found CMO Srihari Halnor replaced this on the instructions of Ajay Tawade, HOD of the forensic medicine department at Sassoon Hospital," said Kumar, while addressing the media.

Since the blood samples of the minor were replaced, the reports which came on Sunday (May 26) did not have any traces of alcohol. However, the report contradicted the CCTV footage which was collected from one of the bars he had visited hours before the crash and in which he was seen drinking with friends.

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In the Pune Porsche car crash case, the juvenile was given bail 15 hours after driving the car at a speed of more than 200km per hour in a drunk state and killing two software engineers on a bike - Ashwini Kostha and Anish Awadhiya - in the early hours of Sunday (May 19).

He was granted bail on several conditionswhichincluded writing a300-word essay on road safety and working with the traffic police for 15 days, which led to a public outcry.

Now, the bail granted to the teenager hasbeen cancelledby the Justice Juvenile Board in the hit-and-run caseandhe hasbeen sentto a Rehabilitation/Observation home till June 5.

The police have urged the board for permission to try theaccused teen -- aged 17 years and eight months -- as an adult. The matter is currently being examined.

(With inputs from agencies)