Drones In Air, Dogs In Pursuit: How Pune Rape Accused Was Hunted Down

A change of shirts was all it took for the dog squad to detect the scent and track down the location of the man accused of raping a woman on a bus in Pune on Tuesday. After a relentless 75-hour pursuit, authorities apprehended Dattatray Gade, the suspect in the assault of the 26-year-old woman, late last night.

Also Read : Pune Rape Case: Police Release Poster of Masked Accused

Intensive Manhunt Leads to Key Breakthrough

The police had launched a massive search for Gade, deploying drones and 13 police teams comprising over 100 personnel across Pune district and beyond. A breakthrough came when he arrived at the house of a relative at 10:30 pm on Thursday. His relatives, upon learning of his arrival, alerted the police.

Before leaving, Gade took a bottle of water and reportedly admitted to his family, “I have made a big mistake, and I have to surrender.” The police team discovered a changed shirt, which they used to provide the dog squad with Gade’s scent. The dogs led the police along his escape route. Gade hid in a sugarcane field near a canal close to his relatives’ house.

Also Read : Stock market: Sensex, Nifty fall 1.25% on US tariffs, GDP concerns

Pune Criminal’s Notorious Past: A History of Offenses

Gade, a 37-year-old man from Pune district’s Shirur, has a long history of criminal activities. There are six registered cases against him across different police stations, including Shirur and Shikarpur in the Ahilyanagar district.

His criminal history includes extortion, theft, and robbery. In 2019, he took a loan to buy a four-wheeler, which he used to operate as an informal taxi on the Pune-Ahilyanagar route. He was known for targeting elderly women, often deceiving them into accepting a lift in his car. Once inside, he would take them to an isolated location, threaten them with a knife, rob them of their jewelry, and abandon them.

In 2020, a court convicted Gade of robbery in Karde Ghat near Shirur, sentencing him to five to six months in jail. However, authorities released him while multiple other cases against him remained pending. These include two cases in Shikarpur and one each in Supa, Kedgaon, and Kotwali police stations of Ahilyanagar district. Despite these charges, courts have granted Gade bail since 2019.

Also Read : CBI seizes ₹23.94 crore crypto in GainBitcoin scam