PUNE: Pune City Police arrested Dattatray Gade from his village, Gunat, in Shirur Taluka around 1.30am on Friday.
He had been hiding in a sugarcane field but came out when officers moved in to apprehended him, officials said.
Over 100 police personnel searched the sugarcane fields of Gunat Village, located about 100 km from Pune, using drone cameras and a dog squad.
The operation to capture Gade began on Wednesday evening after his whereabouts were traced to the village.
Gade had been on the run since early Tuesday morning after allegedly raping a health counselor inside a Shivshahi bus parked overnight at the Swargate terminus.
Eight police teams had been working on various leads to track him down, and a reward of Rs 1 lakh was announced for anyone providing crucial information leading to his arrest.
Police have detained his brother for questioning and interrogated his parents and a female acquaintance to determine his whereabouts.
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Who is Pune bus rape accused Dattatray Ramdas GadePune Bus Rape CaseA 26-year-old preoperative counselor working at a city hospital was allegedly raped by a criminal with a police record inside a Shivshahi bus parked overnight at the MSRTC Swargate terminus around 5.30am on Tuesday.
The Swargate bus terminus, one of Pune’s largest state transport hubs, is located directly opposite the Swargate police station. It sees a daily footfall of around 60,000 passengers and handles 600 bus movements, connecting Mumbai, Solapur, Ahilyanagar, Kolhapur, Sangli, and Satara, as well as destinations in Karnataka and Goa.
The survivor, originally from Phaltan in Satara district, resides in Aundh. She works as a preoperative counselor at a city hospital, where she educates patients about their surgeries, including risks, benefits, and post-operative care, to help them manage anxiety. She reported the incident to the police around 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday and was referred for a medical examination. Following an initial inquiry, an FIR was registered later that evening, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II) Smartana Patil told TOI on Wednesday.
"The suspect has been identified and has previous cases of theft and robbery registered against him at Shikrapur and Shirur police stations in rural Pune. CCTV footage shows him stepping out of the bus with the survivor. We suspect he was at the bus terminus for bag lifting," the DCP said, adding that eight police teams have been formed to track and arrest him.
Meanwhile, state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik has ordered a departmental inquiry against the assistant traffic superintendent and the Swargate depot manager regarding the incident.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)