The Bombay High Court asked a petitioner on Wednesday about his position in seeking a Central Investigation Department (CID) investigation into the Pune Porsche crash case.
The crash case sparked outrage nationally after a minor in a speeding Porsche ran over two techies in Kalyani Nagar, Pune on May 19.
The plea, filed by journalist turned activist Ketan Tirodkar, seeks transfer of the case from the Pune Police to the CID. The bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan were hearing a writ petition filed by Tirodkar that also seeks, in addition to the case’s transfer, the CCTV footage of the Yerwada police station where an MLA had allegedly visited on the night of the accident and thus seeks that the role of some police officers and the MLA be probed in the case.
The bench asked Tirodkar, “What is your locus? What fundamental right of yours has been infringed? This is in the nature of Public Interest Litigation. We are not here to teach you law.”
Pune resident Tirodkar’s lawyer, Rajabhau Chaudhari, submitted that Tirodkar had filed some RTIs under the Right to Information Act and had so decided to file a petition as no action was taken against certain people.
Justice Chavan said, “Either withdraw or we will impose costs.” However, Chaudhari submitted that Tirodkar himself would argue on the point of locus, prompting the bench to adjourn the plea hearing.
Tirodkar’s plea also alleges that the car dealer who had sold the Porsche car to the family of the accused is being shielded by the police and should have been made an accused for having sold an unregistered vehicle to the accused.
It further states that the transport department officials and those from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) also should have been roped in the case as the car was on the road since April 2024 without registration despite allegedly being aware that the procedure for obtaining a choice number was left mid-way by the family of the accused.
The crash case was in the limelight after the leniency of the initial punishment for the accused was revealed. Later, the accused’s parents were also caught interfering with the investigation.
