Pune Bus Rape Case: Accused Called Victim ‘Didi’, Lured Her Into Bus Before Assaulting Her, Say Police

Payal Singh

10 months ago

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Dattatray Ramdas Gade, the accused in the Pune bus rape case, called the 26-year-old woman ‘didi’ (sister) before luring her into an empty ‘Shiv Shahi’ bus and raping her, police told the court on Friday.

Pune Bus Rape Case: Accused Called Victim ‘Didi’, Lured Her Into Bus Before Assaulting Her, Say Police

Pune: Dattatray Ramdas Gade, the accused in the Pune bus rape case, called the 26-year-old woman ‘didi’ (sister) before luring her into an empty ‘Shiv Shahi’ bus and raping her, police told the court on Friday.

The 37-year-old accused, who has a history of criminal cases in Pune and Ahilyanagar districts, was caught on CCTV footage at the Swargate bus depot on the day of the incident, as per the police report.

According to the police, Gade faces at least six criminal cases, and in five of them, the complainants are women. Authorities are still working on recovering data from the mobile phone he was using at the time of the crime.

A Pune court sent Gade to police custody until March 12 after he was caught following an extensive manhunt involving drones and sniffer dogs. The police had deployed 13 teams to track him down, but it was human intelligence that played a key role in his arrest.

Gade was eventually nabbed in a paddy field in Shirur tehsil, Pune district, around midnight on Thursday. He was later produced before the Pune Sessions Court amid tight police security.

As per police officials, Gade attempted suicide by hanging himself from a dry tree in a field, but the rope broke, and his attempt failed.

“According to the primary medical report, a ligature mark was found on the accused. It is suspected that he attempted suicide. We are waiting for the final report,”

Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told Media.

The search operation, which included drone surveillance and dog squads, was briefly halted at night. However, police received information that Gade had visited a house asking for food. The family gave him a bottle of water, but he managed to escape before authorities arrived.

Advocate Wajid Khan, representing Gade, claimed in court that his client was facing a “media trial” and that the complainant had entered the bus on her own accord.