The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to an accused in the 2024 Pune Porsche crash case, holding that he was entitled to bail on the ground of parity as other co-accused had already been released.
A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan granted relief to Ashpak Basha Makandar, noting that he had been in custody for about 20 months while three similarly placed co-accused were already on bail.
The case arises out of the May 19, 2024 accident in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area, where a Porsche allegedly driven by a 17-year-old boy under the influence of alcohol fatally knocked down two IT professionals.
Makandar is accused of facilitating a criminal conspiracy to tamper with medical evidence by arranging the swapping of blood samples of the minors with those of their guardians at a hospital.
Recording the submissions of the senior counsel appearing for the appellant, the Court noted that he was “similarly placed to the co-accused who has already been granted bail” and accordingly ordered, “Bail granted in terms of the order passed.”
On February 2, the Supreme Court had granted bail to three other accused — alleged middleman Amar Santish Gaikwad and parents of two juveniles, Aditya Avinash Sood and Ashish Satish Mittal. The Court had observed at the time that the accused had been in custody for around 18 months and remarked that in cases involving juveniles, parents must bear responsibility for lack of control over their children.
The Court had earlier, on January 23 and January 7, issued notices to the Maharashtra government on bail pleas filed by Gaikwad, Sood and Mittal.
The Bombay High Court had on December 16 rejected the bail pleas of eight accused, including Gaikwad, Sood and Mittal, in the blood sample swapping case.
The Juvenile Justice Board initially granted bail to the minor accused on conditions including writing a 300-word essay on road safety, which led to nationwide criticism. Following a police application for review, the Board modified the order and sent the juvenile to an observation home.
In June, the High Court directed the release of the juvenile from the observation home.
In the blood sample swapping case, ten persons were arrested, including the juvenile’s parents Vishal Agarwal and Shivani Agarwal, doctors Ajay Tawre and Shreehari Halnor, hospital staffer Atul Ghatkamble, Sood, Mittal and others. They were accused of participating in the alleged conspiracy to manipulate medical evidence relating to the minors who were in the car at the time of the crash.
With the present order, the Supreme Court has extended bail to another accused on the ground of parity, noting the period of custody and the earlier relief granted to similarly placed co-accused.
