Pune bus rape case accused Dattatraya Randas Gade, who was arrested by police on Friday was submitted before the judicial magistrate in evening, after which he has been sent to police custody till March 12. According to the police, Gade raped the 26-year-old woman twice in a government run Shivshahi bus early morning on February 25.

Dattatraya Gade was arrested from his village Gunat of Shirur tehsil of Pune around 1 pm hiding in a sugarcane field, after a three-day rigorous manhunt with the help of sniffer dogs and drones. He was then produced for a medical examination at Sassoon Hospital. A team of officials including Senior Police inspector Yuvraj Nandre produced Gade before the court of judicial magistrate TS Gaygole around 6:15 pm.

Gade, who is a criminal in the eyes of law has nearly half a dozen cases registered against him on the grounds of theft, robbery, chain and phone snatching. The five of which were registered by women only. According to the police, he called the woman ‘tai’ and tried to gain her trust taking her to a Shivshahi bus where he raped her twice and fled. The woman was looking to board a bus to her hometown in Satara district around 5:30 am, when the accused initiated a conversation with her, then finally convincing her to get into MSRTC’s Shivshahi bus parked at the Swargate Terminus.

The survivor, who is a health counsellor at a private hospital rushed to file and FIR against the accused at 9:30 am the same day of the incident. After which, the police began the search operation to find Dattatraya Gade. Initial visuals from the CCTV footage at the terminus helped police identify the accused.

The police have also submitted to the court that Gade even tried to hang himself in hiding. They found ligature marks on Gade’s neck during arrest, when asked about it he told the officials that he tried to hang himself from a tree near the sugarcane field where he was hiding. The rope broke and he fell down.

The police custody is provided for further investigation, where the officials will get his medical test conducted. They will also seize his cell phone to extract further information and also the clothes that he wore during the crime.

The defence lawyers who represented the accused argued that Gade never forced the victim, claiming that they allegedly had consensual physical relations which cannot be called as rape. Further stating that the accused was not convicted for any of the crimes in the past, the cases were of theft and robberies and none against the women. They also said that a police custody of two days was sufficient. However, the court ordered for a custody till March 12.