Pune: Grandfather of minor boy arrested for allegedly forcing driver to take blame for car crash
The police have also booked the father of the 17-year-old who is already in custody for letting his son drive the car and wilful neglect of the boy.
The Pune Police on Saturday arrested the grandfather of the 17-year-old boy who killed two persons when his car crashed into their motorbike on May 19, reported The Indian Express.
The minor’s grandfather was arrested for allegedly abducting and wrongfully confining the family driver in an attempt to force him to claim that he was driving the Porsche when the crash occurred.
The crash took place on Sunday when the minor, reportedly from the family of a prominent city realtor, was driving a Porsche car with no number plate allegedly under the influence of alcohol. He was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The driver, in his complaint, alleged that the minor’s grandfather promised to reward him if he took the blame for the car crash and threatened him when he did not agree, Pune City Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told The Indian Express.
The driver said that he was returning home from the police station on the night of May 19 when the grandfather allegedly forced him into his car.
He alleged that the minor’s grandfather and father took him to their home and snatched away his mobile phone. They allegedly confined him in their home and asked him to take the blame for the crash.
The driver’s wife found him at the minor boy’s home on Monday. He filed a complaint on Thursday.
The minor boy’s father has also been booked in the latest first information report based on the driver’s complaint. He is already in police custody under the Motor Vehicles Act for letting his son drive a car and under the Juvenile Justice Act for wilful neglect of a minor.
On Friday, the Pune Police said that it was looking into the option of booking the father of the boy for allegedly destroying evidence as he had attempted to show that the vehicle was being driven by an adult and not his son.
Kumar said that the CCTV footage recorded at the security cabin of the minor’s residence showed that he was driving the car while leaving the house. “Also, the statements of the eye-witnesses corroborate this technical evidence,” the commissioner added.
Kumar also said that the minor “was in full senses” when he committed the offence.
On Sunday, the Juvenile Justice Board in Pune granted bail to the minor, directing him to write an essay on the crash and to work with the traffic police for 15 days. The bail conditions had sparked public outrage.
After a public outcry, the board cancelled the bail on Wednesday and remanded him to an observation home till June 5.