Story by Raksha Bhattacharjee
According to police on Friday, Pune bus rape suspect Dattatray Ramdas Gade called the 26-year-old lady her “didi” (sister), took her to an empty “Shiv Shahi” bus parked at the Swargate depot, and sexually attacked her. The 37-year-old suspect is accused of six crimes in the districts of Pune and Ahilyanagar, according to a PTI report. He was also seen on the CCTV footage of the bus terminal on the day of the incident.
According to the authorities, the information on the cell phone he was using has not yet been retrieved. According to the police, five out of the six allegations against Gade have been made by women. On Friday, a Pune court ordered Gade to remain in police custody until March 12. He was captured from a paddy field in the Shirur tehsil of Pune district around midnight on Thursday following a lengthy search that involved the use of sniffer dogs and drones.
The search operation involved the deployment of 13 police teams, and according to a second source who spoke to PTI, human intelligence was essential to catching the criminals in addition to technology. Under close police guard, he was lawfully taken into custody and taken to the Pune Sessions Court. In their motion for remand, the police asked the court to hold Gade for 14 days.
Alarmed by police activity, he attempted suicide by hanging himself on a dry tree in a field, but the rope was snapped, therefore his effort was failed. According to the primary medical report, the defendant had a ligature mark. His suicide attempt is believed to have occurred. “We are awaiting the final report,” said Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar, according to news agency PTI.
Drones and dog squads used to search sugarcane fields were stopped at night. We were informed, however, that Gade had visited a home and asked for food. Even though we arrived quickly, he managed to get away. The officer added, “The family in the house gave him a bottle of water.”
What the defense attorney contended
Wajid Khan, the accused’s lawyer, told the court that his client was being tried in a media trial and claimed that the complainant got on the bus herself, according to the PTI report. “A physical relationship was established (between them) with mutual consent,” Khan told the judge. The police call the Pune rape suspect a “survivor didi.”
