Pune bus rape accused detained from Shirur

A man who allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman inside a bus at Pune’s Swargate bus station was detained in Shirur Tehsil on Friday (February 28), police said.

The accused identified as Dattatray Gade was detained by Pune Police at around midnight from Pune’s Shirur tehsil.

The woman was raped allegedly by history-sheeter Gade (37) early morning on Tuesday inside an ST bus.

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

Thirteen police teams were deployed at various locations around the state to nab the accused.

The police had also deployed sniffer dogs and drones as part of a search operation within the tracts of sugarcane crop located in Shirur Tehsil in Pune district on Thursday.

According to the survivor, she was waiting for a bus for Phaltan in Satara district at one of the platforms around 5.45 am on Tuesday, when Gade engaged her in conversation, calling her ‘didi’ (sister), and said the bus for Satara had arrived at another platform.

He took her to an empty ‘Shiv Shahi’ AC bus parked elsewhere on the premises. 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.

(With agency inputs)