13 police teams, drone, dog squads: How Pune bus rape accused Dattatray Gade was nabbed

The Pune Police on Friday arrested Dattatray Gade, accused of raping a 26-year-old woman inside a stationary bus at the city’ Swargate bus station.

Gade, a 37-year-old history-sheeter, was initially detained by a team of the Pune Crime Branch from a village in Shirur Tehsil of Pune district.

Later, he was formally arrested, DCP Smarthana Patil, Zone 2, Pune City Police, told ANI.

13 police teams formed to nab accused

On Thursday, the Pune Police formed 13 teams to nab Gade, named 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.

Pune Police commissioner Amitesh Kumar had told PTI that an award of ₹1 lakh was announced for providing details about the accused.

Pune City and Pune Rural Police also launched a search operation in Gunat village, including in sugarcane fields, with drones and dog squads, officials said. More than 100 cops reached the village.

“Given the dense sugarcane fields in the area, drones are being used for aerial surveillance, and a dog squad has been deployed to assist in the search,” a police official told HT.

The woman, who works as a counsellor at a Pune hospital, was waiting for a bus for her hometown Phaltan in Satara district at one of the platforms around 5:45 pm on Tuesday.

Gade, posing as a conductor, engaged her in a conversation. Calling her ‘didi’ (sister), he told the survivor that the bus for Satara had arrived at another platform.

The accused allegedly 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 allegedly raped her, the woman, who works in the medical field, told police.

Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Yogesh Kadam blamed the private security guards at the bus station and said the depot manager should have been more alert. He hastened to add that he was not claiming the police had no role in preventing such incidents.

“A team under the senior inspector of Swargate police station had carried out patrolling in the area at 1:30 am and 3:30am (on the day of the incident). They have not kept tight security so it is the responsibility of the depot manager,” claimed Kadam.