The family of Anish Awadhiya, one of the two IT professionals killed in the 2024 Pune Porsche accident, has expressed deep anguish over the Supreme Court’s decision to grant bail to three individuals accused of tampering with blood samples to shield the minor driver allegedly responsible for the crash.
On Monday, the Supreme Court granted bail to Amar Santish Gaikwad, Aditya Avinash Sood, and Ashish Satish Mittal, who had been behind bars for 18 months. While Gaikwad is accused of acting as a middleman and allegedly accepting ₹3 lakh to facilitate manipulation of the blood report, Sood and Mittal — parents of two juveniles who were in the car at the time — are alleged to have conspired to substitute the blood samples.
The court, while granting bail, observed that parents must take responsibility for incidents involving juveniles as such actions often reflect a lack of parental control.
However, Anish Awadhiya’s family said the order had left them disheartened. “It was such a major incident, and now bail has been granted,” said Anish’s grandfather, Atmaram Awadhiya. “From the very beginning, fraudulent means were adopted to protect the main accused because he belongs to a wealthy family.”
His father, Omprakash Awadhiya, echoed the sentiment: “We want the bail to be cancelled for the sake of justice. Those who tampered with blood samples did it to protect the main accused.”
The case stems from a tragic incident on May 19, 2024, when a Porsche, allegedly driven by a 17-year-old under the influence of alcohol, fatally knocked down two engineers — Anish Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta — in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area. The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) had initially granted bail to the teenager on lenient conditions, including writing a 300-word essay on road safety, which drew widespread public criticism.
Following the outrage, the JJB revised its order, and the boy was sent to an observation home. However, in June 2024, the Bombay High Court ordered his release.
In the broader investigation into the blood sample tampering, 10 individuals, including the minor’s parents Vishal and Shivani Agarwal, doctors from Sassoon Hospital (Ajay Tawre and Shreehari Halnor), staffer Atul Ghatkamble, and middlemen such as Gaikwad, were arrested. The accused are alleged to have played roles in replacing the minor’s blood samples to falsify the report.
The Bombay High Court had rejected bail for Gaikwad, Sood, and Mittal in December 2025, stating the seriousness of the allegations. However, the Supreme Court has now allowed their release, citing prolonged incarceration.
Despite the bail, the investigation and legal proceedings in the blood sample manipulation and accident case continue. The victims’ families, however, fear that the early release of key accused may derail the pursuit of justice.
