Porsche Crash Case: 2 middlemen held for financial transactions between Sassoon doctors, accused teen's father
Pune: The Pune police on Tuesday arrested two more persons in connection with the Porsche car accident case. They allegedly served as middlemen, facilitating financial transactions between the two doctors from Sassoon General Hospital and the father of the accused teen.
The tragic incident occurred in the early hours of May 19 in Kalyani Nagar, Pune, resulting in the loss of two lives - both IT professionals - when a Porsche, reportedly driven by an inebriated 17-year-old, collided with their two-wheeler.
According to a PTI news report, the teen's parents, Shivani and Vishal Agarwal have been arrested in connection with a case involving the destruction of evidence. They are accused of tampering with the blood sample of the accused minor.
Two doctors of the Sassoon General Hospital have also been arrested for allegedly manipulating the teen's blood sample.
Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported that B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital dean Dr Vinayak Kale had been sent on compulsory leave due to allegations of not treating the situation with the necessary seriousness and failing to make appropriate decisions in his capacity as dean. This came hours after Dr Kale disclosed that he selected Dr **, the head of the Forensic Medicine Department as the medical superintendent based on a suggestion from Maharashtra's medical education minister, Hasan Mushrif.
The police have arrested Ashphak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, who allegedly acted as middlemen between the father of the juvenile and the accused doctors and facilitated financial transactions, the official said.
A senior official of the crime branch said ''Investigations revealed that the Makandar and Gaikwad acted as middlemen between the father and the accused doctors. They allegedly gave money to Atul Ghatkamble, an employee at the Sassoon General Hospital, to hand over to Dr Shrihari Halnor to swap the blood samples," news agency PTI reported.
The duo allegedly gave Rs 3 lakh Ghatkamble, he said.
Dr Ajay Taware, head of the department of forensic medicine at the Hospital also arrested in the case, was allegedly the main link between the duo and Dr Halnor and Ghatkamble, the official said.
During the probe, the police have already recovered Rs 50 lakh from Ghatkamble and Rs 2.5 lakh from Dr Halnor.
