Pune bus rape case: How a request for ‘food and water’ led to Dattatray Ramdas Gade's arrest?

Pune bus rape case: A request for food and water led police to 37-year-old Dattatray Ramdas Gade, the accused in the Pune bus rape case, bringing an end to a nearly 70-hour manhunt. Pune police arrested him around midnight Friday for allegedly raping a 26-year-old woman inside the Shiv Shahi bus at the Swargate bus depot early Tuesday morning. 

Pune Bus Rape Case LIVE Updates

Pune bus rape case: How did the police nab Gade?

A police official told PTI that Gade had been hiding in a paddy field in his native Shirur tehsil. On Thursday, Pune police deployed drones and sniffer dogs to search sugarcane fields in Gunat village but stopped the operation at night. At least 13 police teams were part of the search operation. 

When a local family informed the police that Gade had come to their house asking for food and water, the search resumed.

When they resumed the search, the official said the accused was found hiding in a paddy field nearby and was then apprehended.

Speaking to news agency PTI, Joint Commissioner of Police Ranjan Kumar Sharma said, “The search operation in sugarcane fields with drones and dog sqauds 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.”

Pune bus rape case: What happened in the case?

The incident happened when the victim, who works as a counsellor at a hospital in Pune, was waiting for a bus to return home to Phaltan in Satara district early Tuesday morning. The accused, who posed as a bus conductor, called the victim “didi” and asked her where she was going. On learning she was heading to Phaltan, he falsely informed her that the bus to her destination was parked in a different location and offered to help her. He led her to an MSRTC luxury bus, closed the door, and allegedly sexually assaulted her.

Earlier, the survivor had hesitated to board the bus as the lights were off. However, Gade convinced her it was the right vehicle. He then followed her inside and allegedly raped her.

Pune bus rape case: Who is Dattatray Ramdas Gade?

Dattatray Gade is a petty criminal who is accused 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.

(With inputs from PTI)