Pune MSRTC bus rape: How police drones and dog squad tracked down the accused

Pune rape accused

Pune Police on Friday detained the accused who allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman inside a bus at Pune's Swargate bus station in Shirur Tehsil.

The accused, Dattatray Gade, was taken into custody around midnight from Pune's Shirur tehsil, Pune city police confirmed.

#WATCH | Pune (Maharashtra) bus rape case | The accused, Dattatray Ramdas Gade, has been detained by a team of Pune Crime Branch from a village in Shirur Tehsil of Pune district. He has now been brought to a Police Station here.Visuals from outside the Police Station. pic.twitter.com/ZtBP6FWPtT
ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2025

Gade (37) had been hiding in a sugarcane field when the police officials were searching for him, TOI reported. Over 100 police personnel searched the sugarcane fields of Gunat Village, using drone cameras and a dog squad. The operation to capture the accused began on Wednesday evening after his whereabouts were traced to the village.

Earlier, police detained his brother for questioning and interrogated his parents and a female acquaintance to determine his whereabouts.

The incident occurred early Tuesday morning when Gade allegedly assaulted the woman inside an ST bus. The accused reportedly came up to her and deceived her by stating that her bus was stationed in a different location. He guided her to an unoccupied Shivshahi bus within the depot premises. After persuading her to enter the vehicle, he followed her aboard and allegedly perpetrated the assault before departing from the location.

According to the police, the accused has previous cases of theft and robbery registered against him at Shikrapur and Shirur police stations in rural Pune.

The Pune Police on Thursday announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to the arrest of a the accused in the Pune bus rape case. As many as 13 police teams were working to track down Gade who was on the run since the incident which took place on early Tuesday morning.