Pune Porsche Case: SC grants Bail to three accused of manipulating juvenile Blood Evidence

On Monday, the Supreme Court granted bail to Ashish Satish Mittal, Aditya Avinash Sood, and Amar Santhosh Gaikwad, accused of conspiring to swap blood samples after the 2024 Pune Porsche accident that killed two persons, citing their prolonged 18 month incarceration. The order underscores the Court’s concern over social patterns of minor negligence and parental lapses in incidents involving alcohol and high-speed driving.

The three accused were alleged to have replaced the blood samples of two minor back seat passengers with their own to conceal alcohol consumption following the deadly accident. Mittal, a family acquaintance, and Sood, father of one juvenile passenger, along with Gaikwad, a middleman who allegedly received Rs.3 lakh for facilitating the swap, faced charges under IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act for forgery, evidence tampering, and bribery. While defence counsel highlighted that the juveniles were not responsible for the crash and were already under proceedings before the Juvenile Justice Board, the victim’s mother opposed bail, arguing that the conspiracy undermined the entire criminal justice process.

A Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan allowed the accused to be released on bail, subject to trial court conditions, while emphasizing broader societal concerns. Justice Nagarathna remarked, “Father and mother are to be blamed for not having control over their children…Celebration on the basis of substance and then going in a top speed and resulting in killing of innocent people…most importantly the parents are responsible for handing over the vehicle to the children and giving them sufficient to have a gala time.”

She clarified that her observations were not detailed findings to avoid prejudicing the ongoing trial.

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