The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Friday granted permission to the Pune Police to probe the 17-year-old minor involved in the luxury car accident that left two people dead.
The JJB has permitted the police to question the teenager for two hours on Saturday, said sources, adding that the authorities would corroborate the evidence obtained from eyewitness testimony and other sources by questioning the juvenile.
The police had earlier written to the Board seeking permission to question the accused. As per norms, the interrogation of a minor requires the presence of a parent. Since the boy’s father, realtor Vishal Agarwal, is in jail and his mother, Shivani Agarwal, is reportedly ‘not reachable’, a member of the JJB will be present during the minor’s questioning, said sources.
Ms. Agarwal has been ‘missing’ ever since it has transpired that two doctors and a staffer at Sassoon General Hospital had manipulated the blood sample of the accused by replacing it with her sample. The three have since been arrested and suspended.
In the aftermath of the accident on May 19, the JJB had initially let off the accused on bail. The bail order, asking the teenager to write a 300-word essay on road accidents among other activities, had provoked widespread outrage among citizens on the Board’s extreme leniency. Even Maharashtra Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis had claimed to be “shocked” and “astonished” by the order. The outrage led the Board to revoke the juvenile’s bail and send the accused to an Observation Home till June 5.
In another development, two friends of the accused who were seated behind in the luxury car during the fateful night have reportedly confirmed to the police that the boy was indeed inebriated. Sources said the police plan to use the boys as witnesses to solidify their case against the accused.
The Maharashtra government had earlier set up a committee to probe the conduct of the JJB members to check whether proper norms had been followed while issuing the bail order that had let the teenager off in the immediate aftermath of the accident. The committee is carrying out the inquiry and will submit its report by next week.
