Pune Rape Case: Police Release Poster of Accused, Reveal He Was Masked During Crime

Pune Rape Case: The Pune Police have issued the accused's wanted posters in the alleged rape of a 26-year-old woman at the state-owned Swargate bus depot case, which caused outrage in the city.

The police also announced reward of Rs 1 lakh for any information regarding the accused because they identified him as one Dattatray Ramdas Gade at the time when the news agency ANI reported.

According to the poster, a case under section 64, 351(2) which was an offence committed in 2023, was entered against the accused.

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“A case has been registered under section 64, 351(2) of 2023 and the said case is accused named Dattatray Ramdas Gade, age 37 years, Res. Gunat T. Shirur, Distt. Pune and he is a wanted accused in the registered crime,” the poster says.

"Information about accused Dattatray Gade Rs. 1,00,000/- (one lakh rupees) will be awarded. The name of the informant will be kept confidential," it adds.

The 26-year-old woman, who was waiting for a bus to take her back home, was sexually assaulted by a man inside a stationed Shivshahi bus in the Pune-Swargate bus depot.

She was then hurriedly asked to climb into the parked Shivshahi bus belonging to the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) in the depot. The man boarded the bus and allegedly forced her to have sex with him. Soon after the crime, she lodged a report with the police.

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According to the police, the accused had covered his face with a mask while he had attacked her at Swargate bus stand.

“The problem is that the accused had a mask on when the incident happened, and his face wasn't easily recognizable,” Smartana Patil, deputy commissioner of police (DCP), zone II, Pune, was quoted as saying by ANI. “But our team worked hard to recognize the accused, and we have other pieces of evidence against him.”

Took a step forward in continuing, Patil said, with confidence that the police team will lap him up quickly-"All that is left is to nab him."

A total of about 13 teams have been deployed for the accused tracking, out of which eight are Crime Branch and five are deployed from Swargate Police Station in the field.

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