3 accused in Pune gangrape case confess

The investigation into the alleged rape of a 25-year-old woman in Pune got a boost on Sunday with the three accused confessing to the crime.

Police said the three — Subhash Bhosale (30), Ganesh Kamble (26) and Ranjeet Gade (25) — confessed and provided them an account of the incident.

“The accused have told the police that they threatened the victim with a knife. Since the accused were holding her hands, the victim could not resist,” said Inspector Nandkishore Bhosale.

Maharashtra Home Minister Ramesh Bagwe said a fast-track court would hear the case.

Through the interrogation of the accused, sketchy details have begun to emerge.

The woman, an MBA graduate from Nagpur, sat in the Tata Indica thinking it was a shared taxi. Police suspect the trio decided to take advantage of the situation when they realised she was new to the city. They drove her around Pune for almost eight hours.

The woman got suspicious and asked the men when they would drop her. The accused apologised but continued to drive.
Police said they used fake names, Sagar, Satish and Sheth, to address each other. ‘Sheth’ turned out to be main accused Bhosale, the driver.

Sensing something amiss, the victim tried alerting a friend by sending an SMS. Bhosale moved to the back seat and threatened her with a knife. He molested her and slapped her when she tried to shout. Then the men threw her SIM card.

Before driving to Hinjewadi, on the outskirts of Pune, the men stopped to buy beer. They covered the car’s number plate with lime to make it illegible.