Between 2 and 2.30 pm on May 19, a clutch of crime reporters outside Pune’s Yerwada police station saw something odd.
The journalists had heard about a high-profile accident early that morning in Kalyani Nagar, where a speeding Porsche Taycan killed two people on a motorcycle. Both vehicles were outside the police station, with two Mercedes Benz cars parked nearby.
“We took photos and started moving towards the main entrance of the police station. Then we saw something unusual,” said a crime reporter with an English newspaper. “A man in a safari suit climbed out of one of the Mercedes cars, carrying seven or eight red pizza boxes. He started to go in through the main entrance but changed his path to the back entrance when he saw us.”
Inside the police station, a teenager sat in the chair of Assistant Commissioner of Police Aarti Bansode. The man in the safari suit handed him the pizza and, quite casually, the boy began tucking in.
The surrealness of the scene is emblematic of the controversial case that played out in Pune this week. The 17-year-old is the son of Vishal Agrawal, a prominent real estate developer and owner of Brahma Realty and Infrastructure. At about 2.30 am, the minor – allegedly drunk – had driven the Porsche Taycan at 150 km per hour. He hit a motorcycle carrying two software engineers, Aneesh Awadhia, 24, and Ashwini Koshta, 24. Both died on the spot.
The case got national attention after the Juvenile Justice Board granted the minor bail, with bail conditions including a 300-word essay on road safety. The boy’s bail has since been revoked and he’s presently in an observation home.
Snippets of conversations with crime reporters that day confirm how the boy’s family presumed he’d receive ‘special’ treatment. Newslaundry was informed that hours after the crash, the boy’s relatives, including his grandfather Surendra Agrawal, were gathered at Yerwada police station.
“Even when the police were about to take the minor to the Juvenile Justice Board, some family members asked that he be transported in their private cars instead of police vehicles,” said a journalist with an English newspaper. “This irked ACP Bansode who straightaway rejected their demand and took the minor in a police vehicle.”
A crime reporter with a Marathi newspaper confirmed that he saw the minor ensconced in ACP Bansode’s chair. “When the ACP entered the room, she got agitated seeing the boy sitting in her chair and scolded some of the officials. Many family members and lawyers representing the boy were present.”
The Marathi reporter would later meet relatives and friends of the two victims at the mortuary of Sassoon General Hospital.
“They said the police were not entertaining them, not letting them stay at the police station,” he said. “The police even tried to tell them the minor hadn’t been driving the car, it had been a driver. But friends and locals who stopped the car after the accident were not ready to buy this theory – they were the ones who caught the minor after he mowed down the two techies.”
Newslaundry pieced together the timeline of events.
The intervening night of May 18-19: A party and an accident
On the night of May 18, the teenager and a dozen friends were at a pub called Cosie in Mundhwa. They arrived at about 10.40 pm and ordered drinks and food, racking up a bill of Rs 48,000 in 90 minutes. Cosie has now been sealed for serving drinks to a minor and its owner arrested.
The group left at 12.10 am and headed to Blak, a club at Marriott Suites in Koregaon Park Annexe. Entry is restricted to members but the minors were served alcohol until they left at approximately 2 am. The minor got behind the wheel of the Porsche Taycan and drove away.
The police later said the car had been imported in March by a dealer in Bengaluru, who then brought it to Pune on a temporary registration after its sale. It was unregistered since its owner hadn’t paid registration fees of Rs 1,758. It also did not have a number plate.
At about 2.30 am, the luxury vehicle hit a two-wheeler carrying Aneesh and Ashwini, who were returning home from Ballr, a club in Kalyani Nagar. Both were natives of Jabalpur and worked in IT jobs in Pune; on the night of the accident, Aneesh was dropping Ashwini at her rented accommodation in Kharadi.
Eyewitnesses said the car hit the motorcycle with such impact that Aneesh and Ashwini were thrown several feet and died on the spot. Passersby and their friends saw what happened and pulled the teenager from the car; two of his friends were reportedly in the Porsche with him. He was taken to Yerwada police station.
Aneesh’s family learned about the accident when one of Aneesh’s friends telephoned his brother Devesh, who also lives in Pune.
“They called him to the spot,” said Gyanendra Soni, Aneesh’s maternal uncle. “The initial action of the police was not at all in our favour. It felt like they were working to somehow save the minor. They were more interested in knowing about the relationship between Ashwini and Aneesh.”
The police questioned the couple’s friends using a tone that was “intimidatory and interrogating”, Gyanendra added. “They even threatened them to leave the police station.”
Aneesh and Ashwini’s bodies were taken to the mortuary of Sassoon Hospital shortly after the accident. At 8.26 am on May 19, an FIR was registered against the minor at Yerwada police station, based on a complaint from Akib Mulla, a friend of Aneesh and Ashwini.
The FIR was filed under Section 304A (death by negligence) not Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). 304A carries a maximum punishment of two years’ imprisonment while 304 has a maximum punishment of life or 10 years’ imprisonment.
The FIR, of which Newslaundry has a copy, was written by constable Govind Jaaybhaye. It named assistant police inspector Vishwanath Todkari as investigating officer.
Adding to suspicions is that at about 3 am, Sunil Tingre, an MLA from Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, arrived at Yerwada police station. It’s unclear what transpired within but police sources confirmed to Newslaundry that he visited.
Under pressure from the media, Tingre later said he’d gone to the police station “as a responsible public representative” after hearing about the accident and that he “put no pressure on the police”.
Tingre’s version of events to Newslaundry is slightly more damning.
“I have known the family for the last 30 years. There are friends there, and that’s why I went there. They called me for help,” he said. “But after reaching there, when I came to know the minor had committed an accident, I didn’t interfere in any way. Rival politicians are making false allegations that I pressured the police to put a lenient section. They just want to malign my name and nothing else.”
Later events of May 19: Bail and protest
That afternoon, the minor was produced in front of Pune’s Juvenile Justice Board in Yerwada and was granted bail. Newslaundry has a copy of the bail order, which said the board “perused” the FIR and had a “discussion with child in conflict of law” – referred to as CCL – “and his grandfather”.
“His grandfather has given assurance that he will keep the CCL away from any bad company. He will concentrate on his studies or any vocational course which is useful for his career. He is ready to abide by the condition imposed on him. Therefore, it is just and proper to release the CCL on bail,” the order said.
As conditions for bail, the board said the minor should “study all the rules and regulations and prepare a presentation and submit the same to JJB within 15 days. He should write an essay of 300 words on topic in effect of road accident and their solution”.
The minor was also required to “assist RTO office and practise and study traffic rules for 15 days and submit a report of the same”. He had to undergo “external deaddiction counselling” and “consult the psychologist and psychiatrist doctor of Sassoon Hospital”. Reports on both consultations would have to be submitted to the Juvenile Justice Board.
The bail order did not carry the name or signature of a principal magistrate, as is usually the case. Instead, it had the printed names of two members, LN Danwade and KT Thorat. Danwade signed the order, Thorat did not.
Additionally, protocol for these incidents requires the police to conduct two tests to check alcohol consumption by minors – a blood test and a personal appearance test. The minor’s personal appearance test was conducted eight hours after the crash. It turned out to be negative. The results of the blood test are pending.
As these details appeared in the media and on social media, protests broke out. In Kalyani Nagar, locals on May 19 held a candlelight vigil at the accident spot and said the police must crack down on late-night clubs and restaurants.
“This incident was waiting to happen,” said Purnima Joshi, a local and founder of Team Swachh Kalyani Nagar. “It’s very unfortunate that these two youngsters lost their lives. Pre Covid, the closing time for clubs in Kalyani Nagar was around 11.30 pm. Post Covid, it has gone up to 1.30 am and no one shuts these places on time…These places run till the wee hours and people in drunken state act irresponsibly…We have gone to local police stations, senior police officers, corporators, politicians – we have visited all of them but nobody cares. And now this unfortunate incident has happened.”
May 20: After outrage, a second FIR
As public anger played out, the Pune police on May 20 registered a second FIR against the minor’s father Vishal Agrawal and four others.
Agrawal was booked under Sections 3, 5 and 199A of the Motor Vehicles Act for allowing his minor son to drive a car without a licence.
The other four – Cosie’s owner Prahlad Bhutda and manager Sachin Katkar, and Blak’s manager Jayesh Bonkar and assistant manager Sandeep Sangale – were booked under Sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act for serving liquor to minors.
The state excise department filed a chargesheet against Cosie and Marriott Suites, where Blak is located, and submitted it to Pune collector Suhas Diwase.
Also on May 20, Vishal Agrawal absconded. On the same day, the Pune police moved a sessions court seeking an order to try the minor as an adult. The police said they wanted to modify Section 304A to 304 after CCTV footage from the two pubs showed the minor drinking alcohol. The sessions court told the police to approach the Juvenile Justice Board instead.
May 21: The arrests
On May 21, the Pune police arrested Naman Bhutda, who co-owns Cosie with his father Prahlad Bhutda. Naman was not initially named in the FIR. The police also arrested the pub’s manager Sachin Katkar and Blak’s assistant manager Sandeep Sangale, both of whom were named in the FIR. All three were produced in court and remanded to three days’ police custody by special judge SP Ponkshe.
Vishal Agrawal was then arrested by the Pune police in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly Aurangabad, and brought to the Pune police commissioner’s office that evening.
As advised by the sessions court, the Pune police approached the Juvenile Justice Board seeking a review of the board’s previous judgement that granted bail to the minor. The police also requested that the teenager be tried as an adult.
“We submitted CCTV footage and other evidence which clearly mentioned that the boy had consumed alcohol at two clubs after which he was driving at high speed and mowed down two people riding on a motorcycle,” said Manoj Patil, ACP (East Region). “We pleaded with the JJB bench to send him to an observation home and try him as an adult as he committed a serious offence.”
Patil added: “We already had a case. Earlier, the whole JJB board was not there and the decision was given by a single member. There is a provision of 104 in it which says the board can reconsider the decision. That’s why we approached the bench so that our case can be heard properly in the presence of all the members.”
The board reserved its order for May 22.
Based on submissions from the excise department, Pune collector Suhas Diwase ordered the shutdown of Cosie and Blak until further notice. Both pubs were sealed by excise officials that afternoon.
And finally, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis held a surprise press conference at the police commissioner’s office.
“It’s shocking and surprising to hear such a lenient order by the JJB,” he said. “Despite the police invoking sections like 304 of IPC in the FIR, JJB gave bail to the minor boy. It’s shocking for people and even the police department to hear conditions such as 300-word essay writing…The role and order of JJB has led to outrage among citizens.”
Fadnavis was, of course, being mendacious. The Pune police had not invoked Section 304 in its initial FIR, of which Newslaundry has a copy. The daily press release that day from the Pune police commissioner’s office to reporters also mentioned Section 304A, not 304.
However, Fadnavis did not answer any questions about it. He also did not talk about why his alliance partner’s MLA visited the police station that night.
Newslaundry asked Fadnavis these questions, but he only replied when asked about pizza being served to the minor at the police station. He said: “I have asked to appoint an ACP-rank officer who will go through all the CCTV footage of the police station. If it turns out to be true that the police gave preferential treatment to the minor and served him pizza, we will suspend the concerned officials.”
May 22: Bail cancelled, father remanded
On May 22, the Juvenile Justice Board cancelled the minor’s bail and remanded him to an observation home until June 5.
That afternoon, the Pune police produced Vishal Agrawal at the Pune district and sessions court. He was remanded to police custody until May 24. Two others – Blak’s managers Nitesh Shewani and Jayesh Gawkare – were produced in court and remanded to police custody until the same date. Both men’s names had been added later to the FIR.
‘Only public outcry’ led to action
Newslaundry spoke to two people who were made “interveners” in the case – referring to third parties who are permitted to join a litigation.
Aseem Sarode, a lawyer who appeared as an intervener, told Newslaundry the police might have “disposed” of the case if it “hadn’t attracted public outcry”.
“Initially, the police was under pressure. That’s why they invoked lenient and wrong sections,” he said. “Because the minor belonged to a family of the rich and mighty, the police was on the path to dispose of the case using different techniques. But they never imagined this case would attract this kind of outrage, because of which it took a different turn.”
He added: “They filed two FIRs for one offence, which is illegal.”
Sarode also accused Fadnavis of “running to Pune to save the face of his police”. “In the process, he criticised the JJB. It’s usual for the JJB to issue such orders because the laws of juvenile justice have been made to give beneficial punishments. If the police had invoked proper sections, the bail conditions would have been different.”
Sarang Yadwadkar, an environment activist and also an intervener in the case, told Newslaundry the case is “one of its kind because there was a chain of illegal events behind it”.
Yadwadkar recited these events: “Driving an unregistered vehicle without a number. Giving a vehicle to a minor and serving him alcohol. Then after ramming two innocent people to death, this minor was given pizza in the police station. He was taken to court on Sunday and bailed out with extremely lenient conditions. He was given highly preferential treatment. An MLA knowing his family visited him in the middle of the night for god knows what purpose. The police invoked lenient sections which led to his bail.”
All this led to a “strong feeling of uncertainty” for the public, he added. “It was only because of public outcry on social media that this case got to its senses. Otherwise, the police and politicians would have easily disposed of it on the orders of the rich and powerful.”
Newslaundry asked Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar about preferential treatment given to the minor, including serving him pizza.
“I don’t think there is any truth in it,” Kumar said. “But if the case turns out to be true, then the police inspector of Yerwada police station will be suspended.”
We then asked the police commissioner why Section 304 was not invoked in the first FIR.
“When the first FIR was filed in the morning, we invoked Section 304A. But when everything surfaced in CCTV footage – in which he can be seen driving at high speed, drinking alcohol, etc – we applied Section 304 in the case,” Kumar said. “It was mentioned in the remand copy as well.”
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