Police detain father of juvenile involved in Pune car accident, arrest 3 hotel executives

PUNE:  Police have detained the father of a 17-year-old boy allegedly involved in a car accident that killed two persons in in Pune and arrested three executives of two hotels for serving liquor to the juvenile, officials said on Tuesday.

The Porsche car allegedly driven by the 17-year-old, who the police claim was drunk at the time, knocked down two motorbike riders in Kalyani Nagar area in Maharashtra’s Pune city in the early hours of Sunday, causing their death, as per officials.

“We have detained the teenager’s father from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and he is being brought to Pune and will be arrested in the case registered against him,” Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar said.

Besides, the Pune police have arrested Cosie restaurant owner Pralhad Bhutda and manager Sachin Katkar and Hotel Blak manager Sandip Sangle for allegedly serving alcohol to the juvenile, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shailesh Balkawade said.

“All will be produced in a court later in the day,” he said.

On the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, the accused juvenile along with his friends went to the two establishments between 9.30 pm and 1 am and allegedly consumed liquor, according to police.

“The CCTV footage of the bar clearly shows that the juvenile was consuming alcohol. There is no doubt that the juvenile was driving the car after consuming alcohol. We will be submitting all these facts to the court,” police commissioner Kumar earlier said.

The police had registered a case against the teenager’s father, a real estate developer, under sections 75 and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act, and against the owners and staff members of the bar establishments for serving alcohol to an underage person.

The probe in these cases has been transferred to the crime branch, an official earlier said.

Section 75 deals with “willful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses,” while section 77 deals with supplying a child with intoxicating liquor or drugs.

According to the FIR lodged in connection with the incident, the man, despite knowing his son did not have a valid driving license, gave him the car, thus endangering the latter’s life, and allowed him to party even as the father knew that he consumes liquor.

A group of friends were returning on motorbikes at around 3.15 am on Sunday after a party when the speeding Porsche hit one of the motorcycles at Kalyani Nagar junction.

The two riders — Anis Awadhiya and Ashwini Costa, both 24-year-old IT professionals and hailing from Madhya Pradesh — died of their injuries, police said.

The accused teenager was subsequently produced before the Juvenile Justice Board which granted him bail hours later. It also directed him to visit the Regional Transport Office and study traffic rules, and submit a presentation to the Board within 15 days.

“The CCL (Child in Conflict with Law) will write an essay of 300 words on the topic of road accidents and their solutions,” the order read.

According to police, a case has been registered against the youngster under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder ) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

The police on Monday said they will move a higher court for permission to try the teenager involved in the accident as an adult.