The Agarwal family offered to pay the driver any amount he quoted, the commissioner said (Image: PTI)
Earlier this week, a local politician had accused Surendra of having connections with gangster Chhota Rajan
The Porsche Taycan, involved in the crash that killed two people in the Kalyani Nagar area of Pune, was reportedly gifted to the 17-year-old boy, who was allegedly driving it, by his grandfather Surendra Agrawal. Pune Police on Saturday arrested the minor’s grandfather for confining and forcing the family’s driver to take the blame for the accident that killed IT professionals Ashwini Koshta and Aneesh Awadhiya on May 19.
Surendra Agrawal had shared a picture of the luxury car on a WhatsApp group two months prior, stating it was a birthday present for his grandson, India Today TV reported quoting Aman Wadhwa, a friend of the minor’s grandfather.
Earlier, Pune Commissioner of Police, Amitesh Kumar said that the Agarwals allegedly lured the driver, Gangaram Poojari with cash to claim responsibility for the accident committed by the minor. When he disagreed, they threatened and confined him for two days at their home.
Kumar said that the driver — now a prime witness in the case — was compelled to make a statement that he was at the wheel of the luxury car at the time of the accident in a bid to save the minor boy, but he refused to oblige.
As per the Commissioner, after the crash, Surendra Kumar Agarwal and his builder son Vishal Agarwal — currently in judicial custody for 14 days — went and picked up the driver (Pujari) who was going home.
They snatched his mobile, confined him in a room, and barred him from going out or speaking with anybody.
“After the accident, the driver gave a statement at the Yerawada police station that he was at the wheel….But it was revealed that the teen was driving the car,” police commissioner Amitesh Kumar told reporters.
After the driver left the Yerawada police station, the teenager’s father, realtor Vishal Agarwal and his grandfather whisked him in a car to his house on the premises of their bungalow, confiscated his phone and confined him there, the senior police official said.
“He was pressured to give a statement to police as per their directions,” Kumar said, adding that the driver was offered gifts and cash for owning up to the crash of the Porsche driven by the teenager, and also threatened.
The Agarwal family offered to pay the driver “any amount he quoted,” the commissioner said, adding that his wife reached the place the next day and freed him.
“The driver was frightened. He was summoned and his statement was recorded on Thursday (May 23). After corroboration of facts, an offence was registered against the juvenile’s father and grandfather (on the driver’s complaint),” Kumar said.
Earlier this week, a local politician had accused Surendra of having connections with gangster Chhota Rajan.
Vishal Agarwal and his father were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 365 (kidnapping) and 368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping in confinement).
Police will seek Vishal’s custody in the case from the court on Monday.
The driver gave a statement to the police saying he was not driving the car when it knocked down two IT professionals on a motorbike in Kalyani Nagar area of the city in the early hours of May 19, the commissioner said.
The driver and his family will be provided police protection, Kumar added.
Investigation so far has shown that the juvenile, while being drunk, was driving the car, the commissioner had said earlier.
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