Pune rape case: Accused arrested from Shirur, says police

Pune Crime Branch has arrested the accused in the Pune rape case incident at the Swargate bus depot from a village in Shirur Tehsil of the Pune districtPune police have successfully arrested Dattatray Gade the accused in the Swargate bus stand sexual assault case on the night of February 28 after 70 hours of combing operation After evading capture for two days the accused was finally tracked down in a sugarcane field in Gunat village Shirur Taluka with the help of local villagersUPDATE Pune Maharashtra bus rape case The accused Dattatray Ramdas Gade 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 as per DCP Smartana Patil Zone 2 Pune City PoliceVideo Punehellip pictwittercomCP41zGknSKmdash ANI ANI February 28 2025Police sources revealed that Gade had been hiding in the fields starving and desperate When he approached a relativersquos house for water the police received a tipoff and swiftly took him into custody He was brought to Pune around 130 AM and placed in Lashkar police station custodyDuring interrogation a shocking revelation surfacedmdashbefore assaulting the victim Gade had attempted to lure another woman into his trap He gained her trust but she managed to escape in time thwarting his planFurther investigations are ongoingThe woman was raped allegedly by historysheeter Gade 37 early morning on Tuesday inside an ST busThe accused allegedly approached the woman 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 herGade is named in half a dozen cases of theft robbery and chainsnatching in Pune and Ahilyanagar district He has been out on bail since 2019 in one of the offences reported PTIThirteen police teams were deployed at various locations around the state to nab the Pune rape case accusedMeanwhile State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik has ordered for an immediate security audit of all bus stands and depots across the stateAs 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 15Considering the rising number of female passengers Minister Sarnaik emphasised the need to increase the number of female security guards at bus stationsAdditionally he directed that a specific timeframe be set for removing unregistered buses from bus stand areas with the process to be completed by April 15 He also called for the appointment of an Indian Police Service IPS officer to the vacant post of Chief Security and Vigilance Officer in the State Transport CorporationLeaders and workers of the Sharad Pawarled NCPSCP on Thursday staged a protest against the rape incident at the Swargate bus depot in Pune calling for strict action against the Pune rape case accusedThe protesters demanded capital punishment for the rape accused and the safety of womenMaharashtras Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik also ordered a departmental inquiry against the Assistant Transport Superintendent and the Bus Depot Manager of the Swargate Bus Depot in Pune following the February 25 incident in which the 26yearold woman was allegedly raped inside a parked busWith inputs from PTI