 "Drones, dog squad, 100 cops: How Pune rape accused hiding in sugarcane field was caught after 2-day manhunt")
synopsis
After an intense 48-hour search, Pune City Police arrested Dattatray Gade, the prime suspect in the brutal rape of a health counselor inside a parked state transport bus, in the early hours of Friday.
After an intense 48-hour search, Pune City Police arrested Dattatray Gade, the prime suspect in the brutal rape of a health counselor inside a parked state transport bus, in the early hours of Friday.
Gade, who had been on the run since Tuesday morning, was finally caught in Gunat village, Shirur Taluka, about 100 km from Pune. The suspect had taken refuge in dense sugarcane fields, but as officers closed in, he emerged and was swiftly taken into custody around 1.30 am, officials confirmed.
Dramatic chase: 100 cops, drones, and a dog squad in action
The police launched a massive manhunt, deploying over 100 personnel, drone cameras, and a dog squad to comb through the sugarcane fields of Gunat. The operation kicked off on Wednesday evening, after investigators traced Gade’s location to his native village.
Determined to track him down, authorities formed eight police teams, pursuing leads across multiple locations. A reward of Rs 1 lakh had been announced for any tip leading to his capture. Meanwhile, law enforcement detained Gade’s brother for questioning and also interrogated his parents and a female acquaintance in an attempt to uncover his movements.
Pune bus rape case
The incident unfolded inside a Shivshahi bus parked at the MSRTC Swargate terminus at approximately 5:30 am on Tuesday. The survivor, a 26-year-old preoperative counselor, was allegedly attacked by Gade, a repeat offender with a criminal past.
The Swargate bus terminus, one of Pune’s busiest state transport hubs, handles 60,000 passengers daily and facilitates 600 bus movements across Mumbai, Solapur, Ahilyanagar, Kolhapur, Sangli, and Karnataka and Goa-bound routes. The crime occurred mere meters from the Swargate police station, exposing serious lapses in security at the depot.
The survivor, originally from Phaltan, Satara district, currently resides in Aundh and works at a city hospital, where she counsels patients on surgical procedures and post-operative care. Summoning immense courage, she reported the assault at 9:30 am, after which police promptly initiated an inquiry.
An FIR was lodged later that evening, confirmed Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II) Smartana Patil.
Authorities revealed that Gade had prior cases of theft and robbery registered against him at Shikrapur and Shirur police stations in rural Pune. CCTV footage from the bus terminus captured him stepping out of the bus with the survivor, leading investigators to suspect that he was originally lurking at the transport hub for bag lifting before carrying out the assault.
“We had eight police teams working around the clock to track and arrest him,” DCP Patil stated.
As public outrage over the shocking incident intensified, Maharashtra’s state transport minister, Pratap Sarnaik, ordered a departmental inquiry against the assistant traffic superintendent and the Swargate depot manager for failing to ensure passenger safety at the busy terminus.
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