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Pune rape case: Police release poster of accused, say he was masked during crime
Pune rape case: The police said that the accused in the case was wearing a mask during the attack, making it difficult to recognise his face.
The Pune Police has released a poster of the accused wanted for the alleged rape case of a 26-year-old woman at Swargate bus depot, an incident that has sparked outrage in the city.
The police have also announced a reward of ₹1 lakh for providing any information about the accused, who has been identified as Dattatray Ramdas Gade, according to news agency ANI.
The poster mentions that a case under section 64, 351(2) of 2023 has been registered against the accused.
“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.
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"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, waiting for a bus to go home, was raped by a man in a stationary Shivshahi bus at Pune’s Swargate bus depot.
The suspect told her to board a state transport corporation’s Shivshahi bus parked in the depot, followed her into the bus and raped her. The woman approached the police after the crime.
‘Accused was wearing a mask’
According to the police, the accused in the Swargate bus depot rape case was wearing a mask during the attack, making it difficult to recognise his face.
“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.”
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She also expressed confidence in the police team's ability to catch the suspect. "All that is left is to nab him," Patil added.
A total of 13 teams have been deployed to track down the suspect, with eight teams from the Crime Branch and five teams from Swargate Police Station working on the ground.
