As developments in the tragic accident, where two youngsters were mowed down by a Porsche car driven by a minor on May 19, unravel a trail of alleged cover-up attempts by individuals and people in powerful positions, here’s a lowdown on the main characters involved in the controversial case.

Politician: MLA Sunil Tingre

Sunil Tingre is the MLA from Vadgaon Sheri Assembly constituency in Pune city under whose jurisdiction the area where the accident happened falls. Tingre, who belongs to the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP, had defeated BJP’s sitting MLA Jagdish Mulik in the 2019 Assembly election in a surprise upset.

Tingre had reached the accident spot and the Yerwada police station within an hour of the incident after getting to know about it from his workers as well as the juvenile accused’s father. Although it’s been alleged that he influenced the probe and application of the sections against the minor, he had denied these allegations. “After I was informed by the police inspector of a serious accident I told him to act as per the law,” Tingare had clarified.

Although after a few days the focus shifted on other aspects of the case, the unwanted attention returned to Tingre after Pune police’s arrest of Dr Ajay Taware, the forensic department chief, and Dr Shrihari Harnol, the Chief Medical Officer, at Sassoon General Hospital.

A letter of recommendation issued by Tingre to Dr Taware in December 2023 backing him for the post of Medical Superintendent, Sassoon Hospital, resurfaced on social media. With it, the letter brought the allegations of Tingre having a long association with the doctor accused of swapping the blood sample of the juvenile involved in the Porsche crash for alcohol examination. The letter, written on December 26, 2023 to the Minister of Medical Education and Research Hassan Mushrif read, “Dr Ajay Taware is personally known to me…During the Covid-19 crisis he had done commendable work. I request you to take proper steps at your level to appoint him as the Medical Superintendent.” The letter seems to have had the desired effect as Mushrif remarked favourably on it and Dr Taware was appointed to head the forensic department.

Dr Taware has avoided the media since the fresh allegations appeared and, as per NCP insiders, has also been upbraided by the party leadership for his ‘unbecoming conduct’.

When asked whether there was any communication between Tingre and Dr Taware around the time of taking samples, two senior officers of Pune City police said that till now they have not found any communication between the two that can potentially lead to prosecution.

Court: Dr L N Danawade, Member (Non-Judicial) of Juvenile Justice Board, Pune

Following his detention after the accident early on Sunday, the minor was produced before the JJB in Pune in the afternoon that day. The Pune police sought his custody at the remand home and also a permission to try the accused as an adult.

The JJB — which consisted of just one non-judicial member on Sunday instead of its full strength of three including one judicial member — had rejected both applications and granted bail to the accused on various conditions including writing an essay, studying traffic safety norms and undergoing de-addiction counselling. Dr L N Danwade, the non-judicial member of the JJB, was the sole signatory of the order.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed shock at the “extremely lenient” way the boy was granted bail by the JJB.

The Pune police had challenged this JJB order in the Pune district court which had referred the matter back to the JJB to be decided again as per the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act. On May 22, the three-member JJB remanded the minor to an observation home in Pune till June 5.

Family: The minor’s father

The 50-year-old realtor has been accused of multiple offences in the case. The first case against him was under the provisions of sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act on the charges of allowing the minor son to consume liquor and to drive the Porsche in inebriated condition.

As per police, soon after an offence was registered against him, he was on the run and was detained by police from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and was brought back to the city. Later, he was booked — along with the minor’s grandfather — for kidnapping, forceful confinement of the driver and threatening him to take the blame for the accident. Police have told the court their prima facie probe has revealed tampering of CCTV video footage seized from the minor’s house, at the time when this particular offence was committed.

The father has also been made an accused in the case in which Dr Taware, Dr Halnor and a morgue staffer from Sassoon Hospital have been charged for swapping the blood sample of the minor that was collected to test for the presence of alcohol. Police investigation has revealed that the father allegedly exchanged as many as 14 phone calls with the father of the minor over the two hours before the minor’s blood sample was collected on the morning of May 19.

The minor’s grandfather

The juvenile’s 77-year-old grandfather, who heads the realtor family, is facing overall public scrutiny as well as police action for alleged abduction of the driver who was accompanying the minor at the time of the accident and forcing and pressuring him to take the blame for the fatal accident.

On March 25, six days after the incident, the 42-year-old driver Gangadhar Herikrub registered an FIR alleging that the minor’s grandfather had forced him to sit in a car when he was trying to return home late evening on May 19 and then he was confined in his home without phone. He was threatened as well as made promises of gifts for taking the blame for the accident. The grandfather is in police custody.

Police have found that the grandfather has four other criminal cases registered against him in Pune and Satara district in the past.

Sassoon Hospital: Dr Ajay Taware, Dr Shrihari Halnor and Atul Ghatkamble

Dr Taware, the head of the Forensic Medicine Department, was arrested on May 27 by police along with two others — Dr Shrihari Halnor, a Casualty Medical Officer, and Atul Ghatkamble, a staffer from the hospital morgue — on charges of changing the sample collected from the minor in exchange for money to help the minor’s case. Probe had revealed that the sample had been discarded in a dustbin at the hospital.

Police have also recovered cash of Rs 3 lakh — Rs 2.5 lakh from Dr Halnor and Rs 50,000 from Ghatkamble. Police on Tuesday and Wednesday conducted searches at the premises connected to Dr Taware. Police said that the key focus of the investigation is now the financial transactions of Dr Taware, how much amount he received or was promised to him and by whom. Another key aspect is the blood sample which they replaced the minor’s sample with. “Our probe suggests that changing the sample, to tamper with the blood alcohol concentration test to scuttle the probe, was Dr Taware’s idea,” a senior police officer has said.

Dr Taware’s name had earlier surfaced in a rat-bite death at the hospital in April 2022 as well as in irregularities in kidney transplants at the hospital in 2022.

Police: Police Inspector Rahul Jagdale, Assistant PI Vishwanath Todkari of Yerawada Police Station

The handling of the Porsche crash case in the initial stages by the officers of the Yerwada police station has received heavy criticism. The ‘weak’ sections applied as well as delay in collection of the blood sample have been criticised along with the ‘VIP treatment’ given to the minor accused. The police had initially invoked the Indian Penal Code section 304A which pertains to causing death by negligence. The police later invoked the IPC section 304 which pertains to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Considering the allegation and based on findings of an internal probe Pune police suspended Police Inspector Rahul Jagdale and Assistant Police Inspector Vishwanaath Todkari for dereliction in performing their duty.

“There was some negligence by the officer concerned,” Pune Pune Commissioner Amitesh Kumar has said. “The FIR was lodged against the minor boy around 8 am on May 19. He was then taken to hospital for medical examination. Here his blood samples were taken around 11 am. There is a lapse in timely collection of blood samples,” Kumar has said. He said that the officers also failed to inform the wireless control room in time.

Pubs: Pralhad Bhutada, Naman Pralhad Bhutada, Sachin Katkar, Sandip Sangale, Jayesh Bonkar

In the offence in which the father of the minor has been booked under 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act on the charges of allowing his minor son to consume liquor and to drive the Porsche in inebriated condition, the police have also booked owners and manager of the two pubs where alcohol was allegedly served to the minor. Those booked have been identified as proprietors of restaurant Cosie, Pralhad Bhutada (58) and Naman Pralhad Bhutada (25), and its manager, Sachin Katkar (35), two managers of restaurant Blak, Sandip Sangale (34) and Jayesh Bonkar. While remanding in police custody the three persons linked to two bars that served the minor accused, the Judge presiding over the court asked, “What will the people on the streets do? Because those coming to big pubs will not go home walking. They will drive their vehicles. Something needs to change in this situation. Aren’t you aware how much alcohol is served to customers? Decide a limit for it.”