The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to Shivani Agarwal, mother of the teenager accused in the Pune Porsche crash case. The incident, which occurred on May 19 last year, resulted in the deaths of two software engineers after a speeding Porsche, allegedly driven by the teen, rammed into their motorbike in the Kalyani Nagar area.
Agarwal was arrested for allegedly fabricating evidence to shield her son from legal consequences. Investigations revealed that her son’s blood sample had been replaced with hers in an attempt to prove he was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) on Monday suspended the licences of two doctors arrested for their alleged role in tampering with the blood samples.
Dr Ajay Taware and Dr Shrihari Halnor, then working at the government-run Sassoon General Hospital (SGH), were accused of manipulating the accused minor’s blood samples.
"After both doctors were booked for allegedly swapping the juvenile's blood with his mother’s, the MMC took suo motu cognisance and sought an explanation. However, since they are in judicial custody, a personal hearing could not be conducted. Based on committee reports and findings from the Pune Police, the council has suspended their licences pending the final outcome of the case," said Dr Vinky Rughwani, MMC administrator.
"Their licences to practice medicine have been suspended, and they are no longer permitted to treat patients," he added.
In addition to Dr Taware and Dr Halnor, hospital staffer Atul Ghatkamble was also arrested for his involvement in the alleged sample swap, which police claim was intended to conceal the presence of alcohol in the teenager’s system.
The juvenile has since been released from an observation home. However, ten others—including his parents, the two Sassoon doctors, Ghatkamble, two alleged middlemen and three others—remain in judicial custody.
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