Pune, Feb 26: A man with a criminal record allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman inside a stationary state transport bus at the busy Swargate bus stand in the city, police said on Wednesday, adding that multiple teams are looking for the accused who is on the run.
The incident which took place on Tuesday morning drew sharp reactions from Opposition leaders who blamed the Home Department held by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for failing to deal with the rising crime in the Pune region.
Dattatraya Ramdas Gade (36), the suspect, had cases of theft and chain snatching registered against him, said a Swargate police station official.
Swargate is one of the largest bus junctions of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
According to the woman, as she was waiting for a bus for Phaltan in Satara district at one of the platforms around 5.45 am on Tuesday, a man approached her and engaged her in conversation, calling her `Didi’ (sister), and said the bus for Satara had arrived at another platform.
He then took her to an empty `Shiv Shahi’ AC bus parked elsewhere on the sprawling station premises.
As the lights inside the bus were not on, she hesitated to get in at first, but the man convinced her that it was the right bus. She could board the bus and look for herself using a torch, he told her.
He then followed her inside and raped her before fleeing, the woman told police.
Police identified the accused Gade from CCTV footage, and multiple teams have been formed to track him down, the official said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Smartana Patil told reporters later that CCTV footage showed the woman walking towards the bus with the accused.
There were many people and several buses on the station premises when the incident took place, she said. The woman did not approach police immediately after the incident but took a bus for Phaltan and narrated the incident to her friend on phone while travelling, the DCP said.
On her friend’s advice, she got down within the city limits, and went to the police station, Patil said.
The woman’s condition was stable and she gave a clear statement to the police, said the official, adding that a case of rape under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered.
Cases were registered in the past against Gade in Shikrapur and Shirur police station limits in Pune district, the DCP said, adding that police have formed eight teams to nab him.
A sniffer dog squad was also pressed into service, she said.
NCP (SP) leader and Baramati MP Supriya Sule lashed out at the BJP-led Maharashtra government over the incident.
There is a police post nearby and the area is routinely patrolled, she noted.
“Still such an assault takes place at Swargate, which shows that anti-social elements do not have any fear of law. The home department has failed to curb crime in Pune. The trial of this case should be held in a fast-track court and the accused must get a severe punishment,” Sule told reporters.
Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal claimed that incidents of rape were on rise in the state.
MSRTC buses are Maharashtra’s lifeline, and now a rape has taken place inside an MSRTC bus, he said.
“When the Nirbhaya gangrape incident took place in Delhi, people changed the regime. You (BJP-led government) promote Laadki Bahin scheme for women (providing financial aid), but ignore basic issues of the people,” he said. (PTI)
