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A reward of Rs 1 lakh has been announced on absconding accused Dattatreya Ramdas Gade in the rape case of a woman at a bus depot in Pune, Maharashtra. Along with this, an important meeting of the Maharashtra State Transport Department has been called. This meeting is to be held at the Ministry at 12 noon. In this meeting, the security of Swargate bus depot in Pune will be reviewed as well as the security of all the bus depots in the state.
During the meeting, the head of the Pune Department of State Transport may also be ordered to submit a full report of the incident that took place at the Swargate bus depot in the next seven days.
What is the matter?
A man allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman in a parked state transport bus in Pune on Tuesday morning. Police said on Wednesday that the accused has a criminal record. An official of Swargate police station said that cases of theft and chain snatching are registered against the suspect Dattatreya Ramdas Gade (36). Swargate is one of the largest bus junctions of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
According to the woman, she was waiting for a bus to Phaltan in Satara district at a stand around 5:45 am on Tuesday morning when a man approached her and started talking to her and called her ‘didi’. According to the woman, the accused told her that the bus for Satara had arrived at another stand. It is alleged that he then took her to an empty ‘Shiv Shahi’ AC bus parked in the station premises and she initially hesitated to board the bus as the lights inside the bus were not on, but the man assured her that it was the right bus. According to the woman, the accused told her that she could check the bus by turning on the torch after boarding it, after which he followed her inside and then raped her and fled.
Identified from CCTV footage
The officer said that the police identified the accused Gade from CCTV footage and several teams have been formed to nab him. Deputy Commissioner of Police Smartana Patil later told reporters that the CCTV footage showed the woman walking towards the bus with the accused. He said there were many people and several buses in the bus stand premises at the time of the incident. The DCP said the woman did not approach the police immediately after the incident but boarded a bus to Phaltan and informed her friend about the incident over the phone during the journey. Patil said she went to the police station on her friend’s advice.
Eight teams engaged to nab the accused
The officer said the woman’s condition is stable and she has given a clear statement to the police. He said a case of rape has been registered under the Indian Justice Code. The DCP said cases have been registered against Gade earlier in Shikarpur and Shirur police stations of Pune district. He said eight police teams have been formed to nab him. The officer said a team of sniffer dogs is also being used.
Orders for changing security guards and conducting an inquiry
Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik on Wednesday directed that all 23 security guards employed at the Swargate bus stand should be replaced. An official statement said that Sarnaik directed MSRTC Managing Director Vivek Bhimanwar to conduct a departmental inquiry into the incident and submit a detailed report in seven days. The minister said that if found guilty of negligence, the bus station in-charge and depot manager should be suspended immediately. Sarnaik has called an urgent meeting of senior MSRTC officials in Mumbai on Thursday to review safety measures for women passengers and some concrete decisions are expected to be taken, the release said.
