According to officials cited by news agency PTI, the Pune Police have used dogs and drones in the Shirur taluka of the Pune district in order to track down the suspect in the Swargate bus rape case.
Dattatray Ramdas Gade, a native of Gunat village, is being sought by at least 13 teams of Pune city police for allegedly raping a 26-year-old woman on February 25 inside a stationary Shiv Shahi bus operated by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) at Pune’s Swargate bus station.
A search operation is underway in the sugarcane fields in Gunat village since it is suspected that Gade is hiding there, according to an unnamed official who was quoted by PTI. According to the official, about 100 police officers and a number of high-ranking officers arrived in Gunat village in the afternoon.
“In order to track down Gade, police are using drones to take aerial images of the field. A dog squad was also dispatched to conduct a search in the village,” he stated.
A poster of the accused has been made public by the Pune Police, who have also offered a reward of ₹1 lakh for any information that can be utilised to identify the culprits. At the Swargate bus stop, the 26-year-old woman was allegedly sexually assaulted inside a parked Shivshahi bus operated by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
When the man approached and started talking to her, referring to her as her “didi” (sister), the woman informed the authorities that she was waiting for a bus. He informed her that the Satara bus had reached a different platform. He led her to a vacant “Shiv Shahi” air-conditioned bus that was parked somewhere else on the expansive station grounds.
She was first hesitant to board the bus because its lights were off, but the man persuaded her that it was the correct vehicle. Then he followed her inside, raped her, and ran away.