How Pune Police Nabbed Swargate Bus Rape Case Accused Dattatray Gade

In a massive operation involving 500 officials from Pune City Police, Pune Rural Police, Pune Police Crime Branch and Riot Control Platoons & Recruits, Dattatray Ramdas Gade, the 37-year-old man accused of raping a 26-year-old woman inside a bus in the busy Swargate depot, was arrested in the wee hours of Friday from Gunat village in Shirur taluka.

Briefing the media after Gade’s arrest, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar provided a detailed account of the 72-hour operation. “After checking 23 CCTV cameras in the Swargate bus depot and 48 CCTV cameras outside the depot, we identified the accused within one and a half to two hours,” said Kumar.

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On Thursday morning, the police released a poster of the wanted accused, urging the public to come forward with information. The poster mentioned that a case under section 64, 351(2) of 2023 has been registered against the accused. Kumar also announced a reward of ₹1 lakh to anyone providing information about his whereabouts.

The CP said the accused had switched off his mobile phone, but the police managed to reach his village. They deployed drones and a dog squad in Gunat village to nab the accused, with 13 teams being part of the search operation. Later on Thursday night, the police stopped the operation. “However, we received information that Gade had visited a relative’s house asking for food and water at 10:30pm. We rushed to the spot, but he managed to flee. The relatives gave him a bottle of water,” he added.

He said the family informed the police about the accused’s presence in the area, after which the police team resumed the search. They were also assisted by the local villagers. During the operation, the cops discovered a discarded shirt belonging to Gade and provided its scent to the dog squad. The trained dogs traced his scent trail but found that he had not retraced his original route. Instead, Gade had dug a small trench near a canal close to his relative’s house and concealed himself within it. His hiding spot was so discreet that it might have gone unnoticed if not for alert local villagers who spotted him and confirmed his identity. He was apprehended at 1:10am.

Kumar thanked the villagers for extending cooperation to the teams in nabbing the accused. He said the police would give a reward of ₹1 lakh to the last informant from the village. He also announced that the police will felicitate the villagers for the manner in which they cooperated with the police during the search operation. “We will visit that village and felicitate the citizens. We will specially congratulate the people who helped there,” he said.

Meanwhile, according to the primary medical report, a ligature mark was found on the accused. When asked about this, the CP said, “According to the initial medical examination, there are rope knots around the neck of the accused. The accused has said that he tried to commit suicide after he allegedly raped the woman. However, he survived because the rope broke and other people came near the bus,” said Kumar. He further said, “A team will be sent there to investigate whether he actually attempted to commit suicide.” He concluded by saying that the police are making every effort to build a “watertight case.”