Pune teen's grandpa held, CCTV footage tampered with

The DVR of a CCTV camera has been recovered from the house of the grandfather of the teenage boy involved in the Porsche crash case and the preliminary probe suggests tampering with footage, the prosecution told a court which sent the accused to police custody till May 28.

The grandfather was arrested earlier in the day for 'wrongful confinement' of the family driver in the aftermath of the May 19 accident and was produced before a holiday court in the afternoon.

The prosecution told the court they have recovered the DVR (digital video recorder) of the CCTV from the house of the accused, and the primary probe indicates the footage has allegedly been tampered with which needs to be sent for cyber analysis.

Meanwhile, Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said the father and grandfather of the minor offered cash and gifts to their family driver and later threatened him to take the blame for the accident.

The prosecution sought seven-day custody of the accused as they wanted to recover the phone of the driver which was taken away by the accused when he was 'wrongfully confined'.

The court was also informed about the past offences registered against the grandfather of the minor boy in police stations in Kondhwa, Bund garden in Pune and one in Mahabaleshwar in Satara district.

The Porsche, allegedly driven by the teenager, who the police claim was drunk at the time, killed two motorbike-borne software engineers in the Kalyani Nagar area of the city in the early hours of Sunday (May 19).

Meanwhile, the accused grandfather told the court that when the accident occurred, he was in Delhi and came to Pune only on Sunday morning.

Opposing the police custody, advocate Prashant Patil, who is appearing for the accused, told the court that the driver was in the car at the time of the accident.

This is surprising as members of three generations are held in a single case, he said.

The teen's grandfather and his father Vishal Agarwal, a real estate developer, have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 365 (kidnapping with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person) and 368 (wrongfully concealing or keeping in confinement).

The defence advocate refuted the claims of the prosecution that the driver was kidnapped and wrongfully confined in the house by the accused.

"As there was an outcry over the incident, the driver chose to go to the servant quarters at the bungalow of the accused on his own and stayed there till the next day. There is no question of the driver getting threatened by the accused as he himself chose to go to the servants' quarters and stay there," Patil said.

The accused grandfather has been with the police since he landed in Pune from Delhi, he said.

"He has been with police for 16 hours every day," Patil claimed.

About the past cases registered against the accused grandfather, the defence counsel said his client was acquitted in the Mahabaleshwar case.

Patil also apprised the court about the medical condition of the accused and requested the prosecution to collect related documents from his house in the event he develops health problems.

After hearing the arguments, the judge remanded the accused to police custody till May 28.

On Friday, the court remanded the six accused arrested in the case, including the teenager's father, in judicial custody.

The teenager is in an observation home till June 5.