Pune: Following a public outcry, the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Wednesday, in a revised judgement cancelled the bail of the accused 17-year-old, whose speeding luxury car had knocked down and killed two persons in the city’s upmarket Kalyani Nagar area on May 19.
The minor – whose reckless driving of an unregistered Porsche car under the influence of alcohol resulted in the deaths of two IT employees in their mid-20s – was sent to an observation home till June 5.
A local court sent the minor’s father, a prominent city-based realtor, to a three-day police remand till May 24 along with two employees of the bar which served liquor to the minor and his friends.
The JJB’s earlier order, granting the minor bail barely 15 hours after the incident on May 19, had sparked intense public outrage while resulting in a political slanging match between the opposition and the ruling parties at the state and even the national level. The minor had been granted bail by the JJB on a surety of ₹7,500 and an assurance from his grandfather to keep him away from “bad company”, as per the order.
The JJB, while asking the accused to write a 300-word essay on road accidents, had directed him to visit the Regional Transport Office to study rules and regulations.
Meanwhile, skeletons continue to tumble from the closet of the minor’s family after it transpired that the boy’s grandfather had underworld links with gangster Chhota Rajan and was presently facing trial in a shootout case for allegedly making payments to the gangster.
The grandfather, who is currently out on bail, allegedly had a bitter and long-running property feud with his brother. He had even travelled to Bangkok to meet with Chhota Rajan’s henchman, Vijay Purushottam Salvi alias Vijay Tambat, in an attempt to settle the dispute.
All cases related to Chhota Rajan have been consolidated and are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), with a special trial court in Mumbai designated to hear them. The case of the minor’s grandfather from Pune is among those being tried alongside that of Chhota Rajan’s since 2021.
