Bail to suspended head of Sassoon’s forensic dept in Porsche crash case

Pune: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to Dr Ajay Aniruddha Taware — the suspended head of forensic sciences department at Sassoon General Hospital — arrested on charges of conspiracy to swap the blood samples of the 17-year-old boy involved in the May 19, 2024, Porsche car crash in Kalyaninagar. "The appellant (Taware) shall be produced before the trial court concerned as early as possible and it will release him on bail, subject to such conditions as it may deem appropriate to impose to ensure his presence in the proceedings arising out of FIR No. 306 of 2024 mentioned above," the bench of Justice B V Nagarathna and Justie Ujjal Bhuyan said, allowing Taware's appeal against the Bombay high court's order of Dec 16, 2025, that rejected his bail plea.
Two young software engineers had died after a Porsche Taycan car hit their motorcycle in Kalyaninagar around 2.30am on May 19, 2024. The minor boy, according to the police, was driving the car while returning to his home in Wadgaonsheri after partying with friends at a couple of pubs in the Mundhwa area. The police said the teen driver's blood sample was replaced with that of his mother's and the blood samples of the accompanying minors were replaced with those of other co-accused in exchange of money as part of a conspiracy.Taware's lawyer argued before the SC that his client was on leave at the time of the alleged offence and that the latter may be given relief on the principle of parity as other co-accused had been released on bail. The lawyer submitted that his client had been in jail for almost 21 months now. The standing counsel for Maharashtra argued that although the appellant might not have been on duty on the relevant day, he was a co-conspirator and hence the allegations against the appellant were justified. Therefore, there was no merit in this appeal and the same might be dismissed, the counsel argued."We have considered the arguments advanced at the bar. We allow this appeal," the SC bench said, directing that the appellant be produced before the trial court for setting the bail conditions. "It is directed that the appellant shall extend complete cooperation in the trial of the instant case. The appellant shall not misuse his liberty in any manner. The appellant shall not make any attempt to contact the witnesses either directly or indirectly," the bench said. Apart from the teenage driver's father, a prominent builder, the other co-accused are the teen's mother; Dr Taware, Dr Shrihari Halnor, then chief medical officer at Sassoon; a mortuary staffer at Sassoon, two agents Ashpak Makandar and Amar Gaikwad, who facilitated exchange of money, the fathers of two other minors who accompanied the teen driver, and the friend of one of these fathers, who gave his blood sample as a replacement.The teenager driver's mother, the fathers of the two accompanying minors and middlemen Makandar and Gaikwad have been released on bail granted on earlier occasions by the SC. Friday's bail order means that six out of 10 accused are now out on bail.