Until the 1980s, Pune was known as a retirement haven due to its fair weather, low-rise buildings with large balconies, and beautiful bungalows surrounded by open spaces and quietude.
But the last five decades have witnessed the city turn into a manufacturing and information technology hub. All that idyll made way for rapid construction, thickets of buildings, a buzzing social scene, and prosperous developers with fast cars and fast money.
The Agarwals were among the beneficiaries of Pune’s changing character and expanding skyline. On Sunday, builder Vishal Agarwal‘s 17-year-old son allegedly drove his father’s Porsche while intoxicated and collided with a motorcycle, killing both riders.
What immediately followed was a sequence of events that only money and privilege can facilitate in such situations. However, it is not just a tale of how people with money and power can breeze through life with impunity. It is equally about the power of collective public voice. This is why the harrowing Pune Porsche accident is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.
On the night of the accident, MLA Sunil Tingre from the ruling NCP (Ajit Pawar) showed up at the Yerawada police station past 3 am, and the teenager’s blood alcohol tests were severely delayed. Then, the Juvenile Justice Board granted him bail within 15 hours under flimsy conditions. But public outrage soon took over, and Maharashtra’s law enforcement machinery had to shake itself into action.
Within 24 hours, the script changed. The Pune Police invoked a rarely used provision in the law, holding the minor’s father responsible for his actions and arresting him. Meanwhile, the Juvenile Justice Board cancelled the 17-year-old’s bail.
The power of privilege
The night of the accident, Agarwal’s son was in a celebratory mood. He had just received his Class 12 results, scoring 60 per cent marks. Despite being four months shy of adulthood and the legal drinking age in Maharashtra being 25, he chose to celebrate by spending money on liquor, first at a bar named Cosie and later at Blak Pub in Marriott Suites, according to the Pune Police. Both establishments allegedly served him despite him being underage. Altogether, he and his group of friends racked up a bill of Rs 68,000 at the two bars that night, as per the Pune police.
At around 2:30 am, the teenager allegedly started driving toward his house, lost control of the car, and hit a motorcycle, killing its occupants, Ashwini Koshta and Anish Awadhiya, both young IT professionals, on the spot.
There are major question marks over what followed next. The teenager was arrested that night but was granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board within hours. He was let off with a directive to write a 300-word essay on road accidents and a referral to an alcohol de-addiction centre.
There were allegations that the Pune Police served the builder’s son pizza and burgers while he was in custody. Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar, however, has denied this.
The teenager’s blood alcohol level was tested eight hours after the incident — enough time for alcohol to be flushed out of the body.
The night of the accident, MLA Tingre reached the police station. After Opposition leaders questioned his presence, Tingre said that he was simply doing the job of a “responsible public representative” as it was a major accident that had happened in his constituency. In a post on social media platform ‘X,’ he has also stated that he left the police station after instructing officials to take the strictest possible action against those found responsible for the accident.
Leaders such as Sanjay Raut from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Supriya Sule from the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) have also raised questions over whether the Pune Police’s alleged leniency with the teenager was the result of political pressure.
The quick bail, the condition of a 300-word essay, the allegation of a midnight pizza party in the police station, and the MLA’s visit in the dead of the night all sparked immense outrage among people as well as the political class, online and offline, and the case took a turn.
The power of outrage
On 20 May, the Pune Police registered a second FIR — this one against the minor’s father—builder Vishal Agrawal—and the owners and employees of the two bars that served the group of teenagers alcohol. Pune district collector Suhas Diwase even ordered the two pubs to be sealed after the state excise department submitted a report highlighting multiple lacunae in their functioning.
The Pune Police traced, chased, and arrested the absconding Vishal Agrawal from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (formerly Aurangabad). Angry protesters attempted to throw ink at him when he was being taken to a local court.
The second FIR was registered based on two sections of the Juvenile Justice Act—Sections 75 and 77.
Section 75 deals with abandonment, abuse, assault, and neglect of a minor. The law puts the responsibility on anyone in charge of a child. In the past, it has mostly been used against school teachers found responsible for assault or corporal punishment. In its FIR, the Pune Police contended that Vishal Agrawal endangered his son’s life by giving him the car to drive despite knowing well that his child did not have a driving licence. It also held the real estate developer responsible for allowing his son to party, knowing well that he drinks alcohol.
Section 77 lists punishment for giving liquor, narcotic drugs, or psychotropic substances to a minor unless prescribed by a medical practitioner.
The day the Pune Police arrested realtor Agrawal, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the state home portfolio, travelled to Pune, met the Pune Police chief, and took stock of the case. He then addressed a press conference, expressing “shock and surprise” over the order passed by the Juvenile Justice Board. Fadnavis said the police later went to a higher court, which directed the police to approach the Juvenile Justice Board with a review petition.
The board on Thursday cancelled the accused teenager’s bail and sent him to an observation home. The Pune Police intends to try him as an adult.
The public outcry has not just sped up the investigation and pushed the police to tighten the case against the accused of this heinous crime; it has also forced law enforcement officers to look inwards.
The Pune Police has appointed an officer to identify those responsible for the alleged pizzas and the preferential treatment. It’s the sheer outrage that has forced this effort, even if it’s just for optics.
(Edited by Prashant)