The Pune police has arrested rape accused Dattatraya Gade, Friday midnight from Shirur tehsil of the city. The detained accused allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman in a stationary bus at Swargate Bus station. DCP Smarthana Patil, Zone 2, Pune City police, reported ANI, “Accused Dattatraya Ramdas Gade has been formally arrested.”
As many as half a dozen cases of theft, robber and chain snatching have been registered against Gade in Shikrapur and Shirur police stations in Pune and Ahilyanagar districts. For one of such offences, he is freely moving out on bail since 2019.
The Pune Police was on a manhunt since Wednesday to nab the accused. The force had deployed drones and a dog squad in the Shirur tehsil along with 13 police teams. The Pune city and Pune Rural force had also launched a search operation in the Gunat village, Gade was a resident of. More than 100 cops had reached Gunat, keeping a close vigil with drones and dog squads involved in the search. There was a Rs.100,000 reward announced for anyone providing a lead to find the accused. Gade was arrested from a sugarcane field where he was hiding. He came out when the police apprehended him.
Gade’s brother was detained by the police to know his whereabouts. His parents and a female acquaintance were also questioned and interrogated to determine his location.
The Swargate Bus station is one of the largest bus depots of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) that has over 60,000 passengers travelling daily with a movement of 600 buses. Dattatraya Gade had allegedly raped the woman inside a Shiv Shahi bus of the MSRTC at the station two days ago.
According to the survivor, she was waiting for a bus to Phaltan in Satara district at a platform early morning around 5:45 am on Tuesday, when the accused tried to engage her in conversation. He initiated by calling her Didi (sister) and said that the bus had arrived on another platform. And then took her to an empty Shiv Shahi AC bus parked somewhere else in the premises.
The woman hesitated to get inside the bus as the lights were not on. But Gade convinced her that it was the right bus. When she got inside, the man followed her and then raped her. The incident was reported by the woman on Tuesday around 9:30 am, after which she was sent for medical examination. Following an initial inquiry, the FIR was registered later in the evening.
According to the police, the 26-year-old woman is a health counselor working at a city hospital. She originally belongs from Phaltan, Satara and resided in Aundh. Working as a preoperative counselor, she educates patients about their surgeries, the risks involved, benefits and post-operative care.
The state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik has ordered for a departmental inquiry against assistant traffic superintendent and the Swargate depot manager following the incident. He has also assured to install CCTV cameras and enable GPS services in the MSRTC buses.