Pune Bus Rape Case The police has arrested the accused of raping a girl at Swargate bus stand in Pune. The police arrested the history-sheeter accused from Shivar in Gunat village of Shirur tehsil of Pune after about 70 hours with the help of sniffer dogs and drones. The accused has been identified as Dattatraya Ramdas Gade.

Digital Desk, Mumbai. Maharashtra Police has arrested Dattatreya Ramdas Gade, the accused of raping a woman at Swargate bus stand in Pune. 13 teams were engaged in the search of the history-sheeter accused. In this operation, help was taken from sniffer dogs to drones.

After about 70 hours, the police arrested the accused from Shivar in Gunat village of Shirur tehsil of Pune. The accused has been identified as Dattatraya Ramdas Gade.

There was a reward of 1 lakh on his head 

The police had also announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for anyone providing information about the accused. On February 25, Gade raped a 26-year-old woman in a parked state transport bus at 6 am at Swargate, Pune's busiest bus stand.

Identification through CCTV cameras

The police have identified the accused from the CCTV cameras installed at the bus stand. In the camera, he is seen walking with the girl towards the bus parked at a deserted place. 

The accused was hiding in the sugarcane fields

• Police say that after the incident, the accused hid in a vegetable truck and reached his village Gunat.
• After reaching home, he changed his clothes and shoes and fled from there. Police suspected that he was hiding in the sugarcane fields around the village. 
• On Thursday afternoon, several senior police officers and more than 100 policemen reached Gunat village and launched a search operation in the fields with the help of sniffer dogs and drones. 

The accused was a history sheeter

The police have detained a woman close to Gade for questioning. She said that Gade often harassed many women and asked for their phone numbers through her. According to the police, about half a dozen cases like chain snatching and theft are already registered against Gade.

I was raped in a bus

The rape incident took place at Swargate Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) in Pune, one of the biggest bus depots. According to the victim, she was waiting for a bus to Phaltan in Satara district on a platform at around 5:45 am on Tuesday when Gade engaged her in conversation.

Gade started calling her 'didi' and said that a bus for Satara had arrived at another platform. He took her to an empty 'Shiv Shahi' AC bus parked elsewhere. Since the lights inside the bus were not on, she was hesitant to get on, but the man assured her that it was the right vehicle.

The woman, who works in the medical field, told the police that Gade then boarded the bus and raped her.

PC:Jagran