Pune court begins in-camera trial in 2024 Bopdev Ghat gang rape case

Pune: An in-camera proceeding to record evidence of the survivor in the Oct 3, 2024, gang rape and robbery at Bopdev Ghat started on Friday, marking the commencement of the much-anticipated trial before additional sessions judge HM Bhosale. The survivor, an event management student aged 20 years at the time of the incident, was overcome with emotion during the morning session of the proceedings. She recovered enough to start recording her evidence in the afternoon session till the rising of the court. The matter has been posted for evidence next on Feb 25. The three accused — Chandrakumar Raviprasad Kanojiya, Shoeb alias Akhtar alias Aktar Jamir alias Jamal alias Babu Shaikh alias Lakhpati, and Bapya alias Somnath alias Suraj Dashrath Gosavi alias Yadav — were produced before the court through videoconferencing mode from Yerawada Central Jail. The survivor, who is from a city in Gujarat and was pursuing studies in Pune, and her friend, a chartered accountancy student from north Maharashtra, had gone to Bopdev Ghat on a night out around 11pm on Oct 3, 2024. An hour later, three men approached them near the ‘Table Point' on the ghat along the Yewalewadi-Saswad Road. They thrashed and forced her friend to remove his shirt and trouser belt and used the same to tie him up, before taking turns to rape the young woman and rob her of a gold chain and rings. The crime had created ripples of shock across the state. The police made their first arrest on Oct 11, 2024, with Kanojiya, a labourer from Kadnagar in Undri. This was followed up with the arrest of Shoeb, a ragpicker from Adarshnagar in Mantarwadi near Phursungi. He was nabbed in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on Oct 14, 2024. Shaikh has been identified as the ringleader of the group behind the heinous crime. The third accused, Gosavi, a casual worker hailing from Bhavaninagar Sansar in Indapur taluka, was arrested on April 26, 2025, almost six months after being on the run. He was caught at the old bus terminus in Walchandnagar near Akluj, while he was trying to catch a bus. Special prosecutor Ujjwala Pawar told TOI, "The three accused are being tried for offences under sections 70(1) (gangrape), 115(2) (causing hurt), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 309(6) (robbery), 352 (intentional insult), 351 (2) and (3) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), besides, provisions under the Arms Act and the Maharashtra Police Act."