PUNE: The crime branch on Tuesday arrested two men who allegedly facilitated contact between the father of the underage driver in the Porsche Taycan crash and the two arrested doctors of Sassoon General Hospital in Pune. Police said the duo handed over Rs 3 lakh cash for swapping the teen’s blood sample to manipulate the test result, reports Gitesh Shelke.
Police identified the two men as Ashfaque Basha Makandar, 36, and Amar Santosh Gaikwad, 27, both of whom, they said, undertake liasioning work with govt and local self-govt officials on behalf of builders and a politician.A crime branch team on Tuesday produced them before a city court, which ordered their remand in police custody till June 10.
Two techies were killed on May 19 after the Porsche Taycan driven by the 17-year-old son of a builder crashed into their two-wheeler around 2.30am. Police have already invoked charges of drunk driving along with forgery and destruction of evidence. “We arrested Makandar and Gaikwad in Mumbai’s Lalbaug late Monday night after receiving a tip-off,” said additional commissioner of police (crime) Shailesh Balkawade.
A senior police officer told TOI, “Makandar and Gaikwad knew people in govt offices, civic bodies and other establishments as part of their liasioning job. Makandar is close to the teenager’s father. After the accident, he called the father offering help to manage things. Makandar then contacted Atul Ghatkamble, a class IV employee at Sassoon hospital’s mortuary, and sought help to get in touch with a senior doctor or any officer who could help manage things for them. Ghatkamble then gave him the contact of Dr Ajay Taware, head of the hospital’s forensic sciences department.”
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The officer added, “Makandar and Gaikwad collected Rs 3 lakh cash from the builder and handed it over to Ghatkamble, who kept Rs 50,000 and gave the rest to casualty medical officer Dr Shrihari Halnor. The latter executed the blood sample swap. We are ascertaining the spot where the handover of cash was done.”