Pune bus rape case: ‘suspect tried to hang himself 3 times but rope broke each time’ , say cops
Police nabbed Swargate rape suspect Dattatray Gade (37) from the sugar cane fields at his native village Gunat, 70km from the city in Shirur taluka off the highway to Ahmednagar, around 1.30am on Friday and said he made three attempts in vain to end life by hanging himself while in hiding. The rope he used for hanging himself broke each time, police said.
“We found ligature marks on Gade’s neck at the time when our team detained him,” Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said on Friday. “When asked about the marks, Gade told our investigators that he tried to hang himself late on Thursday night from a tree near the sugar cane field where he was hiding,” the police chief said.
Later in the day, a Swargate police team produced Gade before the court of judicial magistrate first class T S Gaigole, and sought his custodial remand for 14 days on the grounds of investigating the rape case. Gade’s lawyers, Wajid Khan Bidkar and Ajinkya Mahadik, opposed the remand by submitting that there was no rape and that it was a case of consensual relationship after their client and the survivor had a chat at the bus terminus. The court ordered Gade’s custodial remand till March 12.
Gade, a criminal on police records with six previous cases of theft, robbery and phone-snatching attempt to his name, is accused of raping a 26-year-old health counsellor with a Pune hospital around 5.30am on Tuesday in a Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC)’s Shivshahi bus, which was parked overnight at the Swargate terminus. The survivor lodged a complaint at 9.30am the same day, following which police launched a hunt for him.
Gade’s arrest ended a dramatic search operation that had begun on Wednesday evening, after police traced him to Gunat. The operation involved 100-odd police personnel who surrounded the cane fields and used drones, public address systems, search lights besides deploying dog squads to extensively comb the area. The villagers too assisted police in the search that stretched till late evening hours on Thursday before it was suspended without any outcome.
The breakthrough came when Gade made a move around 10.30pm. “Our team arrested him around 1.30 am on Friday after he came out of the field (around 10.30pm) as he was feeling thirsty. He went to a nearby house and demanded water to drink. The house occupants identified him and gave him water. The occupants immediately contacted a police constable who ultimately alerted the police team at the sugar cane field. Our team then carried out searches in the direction where he went. He then started running away when local villagers and police chased and nabbed him,” the police chief said.
“During his initial questioning, Gade told our team that he ate sugar cane and tomatoes in the field for two days but did not get water to the point where his thirst prompted him to step out of the sugar cane field.”
Rs1 lakh reward for villagers
The villagers of Gunat stayed awake for two days and worked with police to nab Gade. “We have decided to give the reward the villagers. They helped us. We will soon visit Gunat and do something good for the village,” Kumar said.
