The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Dr. Ajay Taware, the former medical superintendent of Sassoon General Hospital, who was arrested for allegedly tampering with blood samples in the Pune Porsche crash case that claimed two lives. The relief was granted by a bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan on the ground of parity with other accused who had already secured bail.
The case stems from the fatal accident on May 19, 2024, when a Porsche car, allegedly driven by a 17-year-old under the influence of alcohol, hit a motorcycle in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area, killing two IT professionals. The subsequent investigation led to allegations that blood samples connected to the juvenile driver were manipulated, bringing medical officials and intermediaries under scrutiny.
While allowing Dr. Taware’s plea, the court noted that similarly placed co-accused had been granted bail earlier. On February 2, the bench had extended bail to Amar Santish Gaikwad, described as an alleged middleman, and to Aditya Avinash Sood and Ashish Satish Mittal, who are the parents of two other juveniles present in the car at the time of the crash. The court had observed then that parents bear responsibility in incidents involving juveniles when adequate control is lacking.
The earlier bail order had also taken into account the prolonged custody of the accused, who had been in jail for around 18 months. Sood and Mittal were arrested on August 19 last year after their blood samples were used for testing in connection with the two minors who were travelling with the main juvenile accused.
Proceedings in the matter have seen the court seek responses from the Maharashtra government at multiple stages. On January 7, notices were issued on the bail pleas of Sood and Mittal, followed by a similar direction on January 23 in Gaikwad’s petition.
With the grant of bail to Dr. Taware, the court has extended the benefit of parity to another accused linked to the alleged manipulation of medical evidence in one of Pune’s most high-profile road crash cases.
