Pune: A history-sheeter allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman inside a stationary state transport bus at the busy Swargate bus station in the city, and multiple teams are looking for the accused who is on the run, the police said on Wednesday.
As Opposition targeted the Home Department held by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over the incident which took place on early Tuesday morning, the government ordered that all the private security guards at the bus station be replaced.
Dattatraya Ramdas Gade (36), the suspect who is absconding, has cases of theft and chain-snatching registered against him, said a Swargate police station official. He was out on bail since 2019.
Swargate in Pune city is one of the largest bus depots of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
According to the woman, as she was waiting for a bus for Phaltan in Satara district at one of the platforms around 5.45 am on Tuesday, a man approached her and engaged her in conversation, calling her `Didi’ (sister), and said the bus for Satara had arrived at another platform.
He then took her to an empty `Shiv Shahi’ AC bus parked elsewhere on the sprawling station premises.
As the lights inside the bus were not on, she hesitated to get in at first, but the man convinced her that it was the right bus. He then followed her inside and raped her before fleeing, the woman told police.
As per MSRTC officials, he apparently told the woman that he was the conductor of the bus for Phaltan, and hence she trusted him and went with him, but the police did not confirm this detail.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Smartana Patil told reporters that CCTV footage showed the woman walking towards the bus with the accused.
There were many people and several buses on the station premises when the incident took place, she said. The woman did not approach police immediately after the incident but took another bus for her hometown, and narrated the incident to her friend on phone while travelling, the DCP said.
On her friend’s advice, she got down within the city limits, and went to the police station, Patil said.
Cases were registered in the past against accused Gade in Shikrapur and Shirur police station limits in Pune district, the DCP said, adding that police have formed eight teams to nab him.
Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik directed that all 23 private security guards employed at the bus station should be replaced. He also instructed MSRTC managing director Vivek Bhimanwar to conduct a departmental inquiry and submit a report in seven days, an official statement said.
As the incident created outrage, local Shiv Sena (UBT) workers staged a protest at the Swargate station during which the security office on the premises was vandalised.
NCP (SP) leader and Baramati MP Supriya Sule lashed out at the BJP-led Maharashtra government. There is a police post nearby, and still such an assault takes place which shows that anti-social elements do not have any fear of law, she said, adding that the home department had failed to curb crime in Pune.
State Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal claimed that incidents of rape were on rise in the state. “When the Nirbhaya gangrape incident took place in Delhi, people changed the regime. You (BJP-led government) promote Laadki Bahin scheme for women (providing financial aid), but ignore basic issues of the people,” he said.
The MSRTC is one of the biggest public transport bodies in the country, with a fleet of more than 14,000 buses. Every day, more than 55 lakh passengers travel by its buses.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
