BACKGROUND: (From a previous post of this Blog): May 29, 2025: "The hit-and-run case that happened on 19th May 2024, in Maharashtra’s Pune in which a 17-year-old son of a builder, Vishal Agarwal of Brahma Realty and Infrastructure, rammed his Porsche Taycan car into a vehicle in an inebriated state and killed two people named Aneesh Awadhia and Ashwini Koshta. The case sparked widespread public outrage as multiple cover-up attempts were made in the case and the accused was granted bail within 15 hours of the incident. Dr Shrihari Halnor was the CMO who attended to the accused after the accident. According to Pune Police, Dr Halnor swapped the blood samples on the instruction of Taware. Both were arrested on 27th May 2024, after the accused teenager’s blood sample test conducted at two hospitals gave different results. The results confirmed the Pune Police’s suspicion that the samples at the Sassoon hospital were swapped."
https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/8746436172977995068
—————————--
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Dr Taware and Halnor are booked for replacing the blood samples of the minor accused and the other minor accused who was sitting on the passenger seat at the time of the accident. Taware is the head of the Forensic Medicine Department and Halnor is the Chief Medical Officer. Makandar worked as the middleman, who connected Vishal with Taware and Halnor for swapping the blood samples. Mittal and Sood were allegedly in cahoots with the other accused and provided their own blood samples to replace those of the two minor accused. Singh is alleged to have asked Sood and Mittal to give their blood samples."
-----------------------------------------
STORY: "Pune Porsche crash: Court denies bail to minor driver's father, 7 others," published by India Today, on December 16, 2025.
SUB-HEADING: "The court dismissed the pleas of Vishal Agarwal, the father of the minor; Ashish Mittal; Aditya Sood; Arunkumar Singh; Ashpak Makandar; and Dr Ajay Taware and Dr Shrihari Halnor of Sassoon Hospital, who have been charged with tampering with the minor accused's blood sample to ensure that no alcohol was detected in his system."
GIST: :The Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected the bail pleas of eight accused in the Pune Porsche hit-and-run case, in which two people were killed after a high-end car allegedly driven by a minor rammed a two-wheeler in Kalyani Nagar on May 19, 2024.
The bench of Justice Shyam Chandak dismissed the pleas of Vishal Agarwal, the father of the minor; Ashish Mittal; Aditya Sood; Arunkumar Singh; Ashpak Makandar; and Dr Ajay Taware and Dr Shrihari Halnor of Sassoon Hospital, who have been charged with tampering with the minor accused’s blood sample to ensure that no alcohol was detected in his system.
The police had taken the minor to the hospital, following procedure, to measure his level of intoxication by drawing a blood sample.
However, the collected blood sample was allegedly swapped with another person’s blood, and the Pune Police claimed that the doctors and hospital staff were hand in glove with members of the accused Agarwal family in the case.
The bench observed that the offence is serious and the witnesses in the case can be manipulated. Though the detailed judgement with observations passed by the court is yet to be made available.
However, Special Public Prosecutor Shishir Hiray, appearing for the Pune Police, argued that the accused had fabricated vital evidence in the case by manipulating the minor accused’s blood samples.
Hiray also submitted that witnesses in the case could be easily influenced, as some are junior to the accused doctors at the hospital, while others are economically vulnerable and could be threatened by the powerful accused.
Dr Taware and Halnor are booked for replacing the blood samples of the minor accused and the other minor accused who was sitting on the passenger seat at the time of the accident.
Taware is the head of the Forensic Medicine Department and Halnor is the Chief Medical Officer.
Makandar worked as the middleman, who connected Vishal with Taware and Halnor for swapping the blood samples.
Mittal and Sood were allegedly in cahoots with the other accused and provided their own blood samples to replace those of the two minor accused. Singh is alleged to have asked Sood and Mittal to give their blood samples."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
———————————————————————————————
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
—————————————————————————————————
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
-------------------------------------------------------------------
