THE SYSTEM CRASH

IN a classic instance of arrant perversion of justice not remaining a local event, a sordid tale of reckless privilege and alleged cover-ups has spilled out from the affluent enclaves of Pune to hit national headlines.

- Dhaval S. Kulkarni

At its heart is a 17-year-old scion of a prominent real estate family, accused of mowing down two young techies in an unregistered Porsche Taycan. The night of May 18 saw the juvenile, well below the legal age, allegedly drink high-end liquor with friends at two upscale bars. Later, in the wee hours, his speeding luxury car rammed into two techies' motorcycle-Ashwini Koshta, 24, who was riding pillion, was killed instantly while the biker, Aneesh Awadhiya, also 24, succumbed to his injuries later. Eyewitness accounts say there were three boys in the car, all of them drunk. Police probe suggests the juvenile was behind the wheel.

What followed was a seeming circus of impunity. The boy, four months shy of 18, was initially let off with a mere rap on the knuckles by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB)-his bail conditions included penning a 300-word essay on road safety. The leniency extended to allegations that the boy was served pizza at the Yerawada police station. Add political interference-local MLA Sunil Tingre of the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was among the visitors at the police station post-mishap-and it was inevitable that outrage went viral.