Pune bus rape: Accused attempted to end life, detained from Shirur, say police

Pune: The accused in the rape in bus case allegedly attempted suicide to evade arrest, police officials said.

Dattatray Ramdas Gade is accused of raping a 26-year-old woman hospital counsellor inside a parked Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus at Swargate depot on Tuesday.

Speaking to the media on Friday, Pune city police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said, “According to the primary medical report, a ligature mark was found on the neck of accused. It is suspected that he attempted suicide. We are waiting for the final report.”

Police sources said that 37-year-old Gade tried to hang himself with a rope but it broke and villagers intervened.

After an extensive search operation that lasted three days, Pune city police arrested the accused from his native village Gunat in Shirur at around 1.10am on Friday.

Smarthana Patil, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Zone 2, said Gade was brought to Pune by 2 am. He was sent for a medical examination, formally arrested and presented in Pune court.

A court on Friday sent the accused to police custody till March 12.

Professor Ganesh Gavhane of Gunat who played a key role in nabbing the accused claimed that he found the latter with Rogor insecticide bottle.

“During our search on Thursday night, we found Gade near a well located near a cricket ground in our village. As he began to run towards the village after seeing us, I kept the motorcycle headlight on to help chase him,” Gavhane said.

According to Gavhane, Gade on being caught pleaded with villagers to let him talk to his son and will surrender tomorrow.

“He had a bottle of insecticide in his hand which I quickly snatched from him and alerted the police who later took him into custody,” he said.

Meanwhile, 500 personnels of crime branch (Zone 2), Swargate police station, riot control platoons and recruits along with 400-500 villagers were part of the three-day search operation before the accused was nabbed on Friday morning.

“We are trying to make a ‘watertight’ case to ensure conviction. We will try to take the case to a fast-track court, and a special councillor will be appointed,” Kumar said.

Denying villagers’ claim that Gade was willing to surrender to the police, Kumar said that the accused’s movements never showed any indication that he was willing to give up.

Reward for villagers

Pune city police have decided to give the reward of ₹1 lakh announced for giving information on history-sheeter Gade to the villagers of Gunat. Kumar said, “Those who shared latest information about the accused will be given the reward price. We will soon visit the village and felicitate those who helped nab the accused.”

Delay in arrest

Police officials admitted that there was a delay in the arrest of the accused. Kumar said, “While there was delay in arresting the accused, the suspect was identified within 1-2 hours after the crime based on footages collected from 23 CCTV cameras placed at ST stand premises and 48 outside the busy bus stand.”

The accused was booked in January 2024 in a mobile theft case reported at Swargate police station. Six cases of theft and chain snatching were reported against him at Pune rural, Ahilyanagar district, a police official said.

The assault

According to police reports, the assault took place in the early hours of Tuesday when the woman was waiting at Swargate station to board a bus to her hometown Phaltan in Satara district. Gade, posing as bus conductor, allegedly misled her by saying that her bus would arrive at a different platform and lured her onto an empty state transport (ST) bus, where he committed the crime. The incident occurred merely 100 metres from security office.

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.

Fresh safety audits

To prevent such incidents in future, Pune city police will launch safety audit of vulnerable places, including dark spots, hot spots, bus terminals and places outside railway stations.

“We are also trying to coordinate with authorities to ensure better street lighting system and dispose of abandoned vehicles on roads. We will also check app-based aggregators and private cabs for panic button safety feature,” said Kumar.