Teen's blood sample swapped with his mother

Shivani Agarwal, the mother of the 17-year-old boy involved in a Porsche car crash in Pune, had given her blood sample that was swapped with that of her son's at the city's Sassoon General Hospital, police sources said.

The blood sample was taken by Dr Shrihari Halnor, one of the doctors accused of manipulating the blood sample of the teen driver, and his staff, they added.

Shivani was present at the hospital when the test happened and is absconding after the arrest of Dr Halnor and Dr Ajay Tawade, another accused, police sources said, adding that the police are trying to trace her.

The teenager, who is the son of a city-based builder, drank alcohol at a restaurant and club before driving the Porsche car at a high speed and ramming a bike on May 19, killing two IT professionals, Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwini Koshta.

Before the minor's blood samples were collected, the teen driver's father, Vishal Agarwal, communicated with Dr Tawade via WhatsApp, and FaceTime calls, as well as a single general call, police sources said, adding that there were 14 such calls in total. The calls were made between 8.30 am and 10.40 am on May 19 and the blood samples were taken at 11 am.

The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report showed no alcohol in the first blood sample, which raised suspicions. Later, a second blood test was conducted at a different hospital and DNA tests confirmed the samples were from two different individuals.

This led investigators to suspect that the doctors at the Sassoon General Hospital had tampered with the evidence to protect the accused juvenile.