Teen’s grandfather arrested for kidnapping, threatening driver

Pune police arrest Porsche case minor's grandfather for threatening driver, leading to custody. Grandfather remanded till May 28. Seven arrested so far.

Pune: On Saturday morning, the Pune police arrested the Porsche case minor’s grandfather for allegedly issuing threats to the Porsche driver and keeping him in captivity in a bid to force him to take the blame for the crime. Following the grandfather’s arrest, the police took the driver to his employer’s residence and recorded the panchanama.

The grandfather has been remanded to police custody till May 28 as the prosecution sought time for interrogation to recover the driver’s phone seized by the grandfather, as well as recover CCTV footage from the resident of the builder father. Appearing for the grandfather, advocate Prashant Patil, while opposing the police custody, told the court, “When the incident happened, the driver was in the car. He was also assaulted by the mob. Because of the public outcry, the public was scared. For his own safety, he went to the builder’s residence on his own.”

As many as seven persons have already been arrested so far while the minor, who allegedly crashed his Porsche in a drunken state into a bike killing two techies, has been detained at an observation home. The latest FIR was lodged against the grandfather and the father based on a complaint by the 42-year-old driver. The police have booked the grandfather under Indian Penal Code sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 365 (kidnapping and abduction), 368 (whoever, knowing that any person has been kidnapped or has been abducted, wrongfully conceals or confines such person), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention).

The driver in the FIR stated that on the intervening night between May 19 and 20 when he was going home, the grandfather called, threatened, and forced him to sit in the car much against his wishes and brought him to a bungalow at an upmarket housing society in Wadgaonsheri. “The grandfather and the father of the teen then took away his phone and confined him illegally at the residence,” said Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar.

They even tried to force him to take the blame for the crime and said that he should not tell anyone about it or will face dire consequences, said Kumar. “The family members told the driver to give only those statements that they approved,” he said.

Since the driver did not return home, his family led by his wife reached the residence of the employer and shouted at the accused. “Eventually, the driver was taken home and after that he has been living in a state of shock. When the crime branch brought him to the commissionerate to record his statement on Thursday, he informed the police about what happened to him. Accordingly, an FIR has been lodged against the grandfather and the father,” said the police commissioner.

The accused had also offered huge monetary offers to the driver, police officials said. Officials from the crime branch said they had detained the grandfather on Thursday and subjected him to interrogation on various aspects of the case. The investigators had recorded the grandfather’s statement and made the driver sit face to face for incident sequencing and corroborating the facts, said Sunil Tambe, assistant commissioner of police (crime).

Earlier the grandfather had told the police that he had given the Porsche keys to his grandson after informing his son that he had requested the keys. The grandfather is the CMD of a real estate firm, in whose name the supercar was bought by the father from Bengaluru.

Following the Pune police request to modify its earlier order, the Juvenile Justice Board on Thursday remanded the minor to the Nehru Udyog Kendra Observation Home for 14 days until June 5.

His father, who was arrested earlier on charges of allowing the minor to drive the supercar without driving license, registration and number plates and gave consent for consuming alcohol, is currently lodged in Yerawada Central prison after the district court granted him judicial custody for 14 days.