Pune: Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Ashpak Basha Makandar, one of the co-accused in the case of manipulating blood samples of the minor driver in the Porsche car crash that claimed the lives of two young software engineers in the city’s Kalyaninagar area on May 19, 2024. The apex court cited grounds of parity while granting bail relief. Now, five of the total 10 accused involved in the case registered by the Yerawada police are out on bail, including the teenage driver’s mother. His father, the two suspended doctors and a suspended mortuary staffer, and one more co-accused continue to be in jail under judicial custody. Makandar and co-accused Amar Gaikwad were accused of playing middlemen to facilitate contact between the teen driver’s builder father and the Sassoon hospital doctors for exchange of money to swap blood samples. Makandar had earlier moved SC against Bombay high court’s order of Dec 16, 2025, that rejected his bail plea. His lawyer submitted before SC on Wednesday that the appellant’s (Makandar) case was “similarly placed with the appellant in Crl.A.No.629 of 2026 (Amar Santosh Gaikwad vs. State of Maharashtra) who was granted relief of bail vide order dated Feb 2, 2026.” He submitted, “Therefore, on principle of parity, this appellant also may be granted a similar relief as the appellant herein has also been in jail for about 20 months.” The standing counsel for the state conceded the case and submitted that the SC may pass an appropriate order in the matter. The SC bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said, “Considering the facts on record and the aforesaid submissions, in our view, the case for bail is made out. We, therefore, allow this appeal. The appellant shall be produced before the trial court concerned as early as possible and the trial court shall release him on bail, subject to such conditions as it may deem appropriate to impose to ensure his presence in theproceedings arising out of FIR No.306 of 2024 mentioned above.” The bench added, “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 witnesses either directly or indirectly.” Apart from the teen driver’s father, who is a prominent builder, the other co-accused are the teen’s mother; Dr Ajay Taware, then-head of forensic sciences department at the Sassoon hospital, Dr Shrihari Halnor, then-chief medical officer at Sassoon, both of whom are suspended; 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. Two young software engineers had died after the Porsche Taycan car hit their motorcycle in Kalyaninagar around 2.30am on May 19, 2024. The minor, 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 Mundhwa. It is the police’s case that as part of a conspiracy, 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.
