PUNE CITY police, who are investigating the accident in which two young software engineers were killed after a speeding Porsche car driven by an allegedly inebriated 17-and-a-half-year-old minor rammed their motorcycle, have said a simulated model recreating the accident scenario is being prepared using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools which will be presented as technical evidence in the court during trial. Aneesh Awadhiya and Ashwani Koshta, engineers working in Pune’s Kalyani Nagar area, were killed after the speeding Porsche car being driven by the boy knocked down their motorcycle in the Yerwada area in the early hours of May 19. The minor, who was initially granted bail by the Juvenile Justice Board, was later remanded to an observation home till June 5. A senior police officer said, "We are thoroughly examining the CCTV footage, mobile phone call records and video clips which will be presented as technical evidence in the case. Meanwhile, we have contacted some private entities who help investigation agencies in crime scene recreation using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. We are asking them to prepare a simulated model of the entire accident scenario. We will be providing them with inputs including the footage from the CCTV cameras along the route, various photographs of the crime scene, some video clips from the crime scene and other data pertaining to the accident." The officer added, "This reconstruction will also include the sequence of events leading up to the incident. AI-based technologies facilitate pattern recognition, analysis of visuals, increasing the accuracy of the crime scene reconstruction and help prepare a simulated model of the crime. As per the procedure, a panchnama of this model will be prepared and this will be submitted along with technical evidence. Our focus is on building an airtight case with much emphasis on the technical evidence." Probe still on Taware switching samples On Monday, the police had arrested two Sassoon doctors--Dr Ajay Taware, former medical superintendent and present head of forensic medicine department and Dr Shrihari Halnor, a casualty medical officer-and Atul Ghatkamble, a staffer from the hospital morgue on charges of changing the sample collected from the minor in exchange for money. Probe had revealed that the sample had been discarded in a dustbin at the hospital. After their arrest, the police conducted searches on various premises of the accused and seized cash of Rs three lakh - Rs 2.5 lakh from Dr Halnor and Rs 50,000 from Ghatkamble, which the police said were their cuts in the crime. "On Tuesday and Wednesday, searches continued on the premises linked to Taware. We are working on the leads obtained from these searches. He is not completely forthcoming in his interrogation and is stalling some key questions. We are still probing the financial transactions, how much amount he received or was promised to him and by whom. Another key aspect is the blood sample which they replaced the minor's sample with," an officer who is part of the probe said. Police have said on Tuesday that changing the sample to tamper with the blood alcohol concentration test to scuttle the probe was Taware's idea.
