3 days on, Pune cops arrest rape accused

Thirst forced the accused in the Swargate bus rape case to leave the field he was hiding in and approach a house to seek water, but the owner, brother of a police constable, promptly alerted the police teams who were on his trail, leading to the arrest, officials said on Friday.

Dattatray Ramdas Gade (37), who was on the run since Tuesday morning, was nabbed around Thursday midnight from his native village Gunat in Shirur tehsil of Pune district. A court on Friday remanded him in police custody till March 12.

The police had pressed into service sniffer dogs and drones with thermal image cameras to hunt for him after realising that he was probably hiding in the fields, but finally human intelligence proved most helpful, said an official.

As the police surrounded the field, Gade too was observing them from his hiding place, he said. After darkness fell, the search operation was halted.

Unable to control the thirst, the accused stepped out of the field around 9.30 pm on Thursday, and approached a nearby house to request for water.