Pune rape case: Request for water, food led to accused's arrest from paddy field in Shirur

Pic/PTI

The police on Friday said that a request for food and water from a house led to the arrest of a 37-year-old man on the run after allegedly raping a woman inside a bus at Swargate bus station in Pune, reported news agency PTI.

The police used drones and sniffer dogs to track down the accused, Dattaray Ramdas Gade, who was hiding in a paddy field in his native Shirur tehsil and apprehended him around midnight, an official said while sharing an update on the Pune rape case, reported PTI.

A senior police officer said, "Gade was brought to Pune by 2 am. He was sent for a medical examination and formally arrested. The accused will be produced in court later in the day," reported PTI.

Gade, a history-sheeter, fled to his native place in Shirur after allegedly sexually assaulting a 26-year-old woman inside a state transport bus at Swargate bus station in Pune in the early hours of Tuesday.

The accused switched off his mobile phone, but the police managed to reach his village and found out he had visited a house requesting water, the sources told PTI.

The Pune police on Thursday deployed drones and a dog squad in Gunat village to nab the accused, and 13 teams were part of the search operation, an official said.

Joint commissioner of police Ranjan Kumar Sharma also visited the village and briefed his officers, he said.

"The search operation in sugarcane fields with drones and dog squads was stopped at night. However, we received information that Gade had visited a house asking for food. We rushed to the spot, but he managed to flee. The family in the house gave him a bottle of water," the official said while sharing an update on the Pune rape case, reported PTI.

He said the family informed the police about the accused's presence in the area, after which the police team resumed the search.

The official said the accused was seen hiding in a paddy field nearby and was apprehended.

Gade is named in half a dozen theft, robbery and chain-snatching cases in Pune and Ahilyanagar districts. He has been out on bail since 2019 in one of the offences.

The accused in the Pune rape incident, who was detained by a team of the Pune Crime Branch from a village in Shirur Tehsil of Pune district, has now been formally arrested, Pune Police said on Friday.

The accused allegedly approached the victim, falsely claiming that the bus to her destination was parked elsewhere. He led her to a MSRTC Shivsahi bus parked in the depot, where he allegedly raped her.

DCP Smarthana Patil, Zone 2, Pune City Police, stated that the accused, Dattatray Ramdas Gade, has been formally arrested.

The accused Dattatray Ramdas Gade was absconding since the incident happened on Tuesday, when the rape survivor, a working woman, was waiting for a bus to return home to Phaltan, which is located around 100 km away.

Meanwhile, State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik has ordered an immediate security audit of all bus stands and depots across the state. As per a release issued on Thursday, the minister has also instructed that all registered buses parked at bus stations and depots and vehicles seized by transport offices be removed by April 15.

(With inputs from PTI)