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Journalism of Courage
The Pune city police have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh to anyone giving information on history-sheeter Dattatraya Ramdas Gade, the 37-year-old man accused of raping a woman inside a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bus at Swargate depot on Tuesday.
The police on Wednesday also released the photograph of Gade, a resident of Gunat village in Shirur taluka, who was previously charged in robbery and theft cases by the Pune Rural police. They said informants can contact senior police inspector Yuvraj Nandre at 9881670659 and police sub-inspector Punam Patil at 8600444569 and their names would be kept confidential.
The police have intensified the search for Gade, who has been on the run for over 48 hours. Suspecting that the accused could be hiding in sugarcane farms near his residence in Shirur, the police teams used drones as well as a dog squad for locating him, but he remained untraced till reports last came in.
The police said they are probing whether Gade had committed any sexual assaults in the past. As per police records, he had committed six crimes including robberies and mobile phone theft in Pune rural, Pune city and Ahmednagar district in the past.
Pune Rural police Superintendent Pankaj Deshmukh said preventive action was taken against Gade in 2020 as per Section 110 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). “Cases against him in the jurisdiction of Pune Rural police are pending before the court. There was a case against him in which he had robbed a woman,” said Deshmukh.
Police said he used to work as a car driver and ferried passengers from Pune to Ahmednagar, and is known to have robbed gold ornaments from female passengers at knifepoint. He was arrested, but was currently out on bail.
According to the police, the accused misled the 26-year-old victim, who was waiting at the Swargate bus depot to catch a bus to her hometown in Satara district, to a vacant Shivshahi bus, a semi-luxury MSRTC bus, around 5.30 am on Tuesday, and allegedly sexually assaulted her. As the bus was air-conditioned, its windows are permanently closed, the police said.
The incident took place just over a 100 metres away from the Swargate police station, triggering protests from political and other outfits.
Police have registered a case under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 64 (rape), and 351 (2) against Gade. The police, who have questioned some of Gade’s friends and family members, are scanning CCTV footage at Swargate bus depot and at other locations to trace the accused. Forensic experts have examined the bus where the crime took place. The police have recorded the statement of the bus driver.
