Pune bus rape accused arrested from Shirur: Police

A man who allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman inside a bus at Pune’s Swargate bus station on Tuesday morning was arrested in Shirur on Friday, police said.

“Accused Dattatray Ramdas Gade has been formally arrested”, Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Smartana Patil, Zone 2, Pune City Police said.

Gade was arrested in the early hours of Friday, around 1:30am, from his native village, Gunat, in Shirur, Pune district.

Patil said that Gade was taken into custody at his village and brought to Pune and he will be presented in court on Friday for further legal proceedings.

Gade, a known history-sheeter, has multiple criminal offenses registered against him.

Swargate in Pune is one of the largest bus depots of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).

According to the survivor, she was waiting for a bus for Phaltan in Satara district at one of the platforms around 5:45am on Tuesday, when Gade engaged her in conversation, calling her “Tai” (the Marathi word for sister), and said the bus for Satara had arrived at another platform.

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He took her to an empty Shiv Shahi AC bus parked elsewhere on the premises of the bus stand. As the lights inside the bus were not on, she hesitated to get in, but the man convinced her that it was the right vehicle. Gade then followed her and raped her, the woman, who works in the medical field, told police.

After the assault, Gade fled Pune and took shelter at a relative’s house in Shirur.

During his stay, he reportedly confessed to committing a “mistake” and expressed a willingness to surrender. However, before acting on it, he disappeared. Acting on a tip-off from his relative, police launched a manhunt and tracked him down using a dog squad.