Mumbai, Feb 27 The National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken a serious note of the sexual assault on a 26-year-old woman inside the bus in Swargate bus depot in Pune and asked the state police chief to submit a detailed investigation report.
The Commission's chairperson, Vijaya Rahatkar, in a letter to the state Director General of Police, Rashmi Shukla, has asked to submit an investigation report and also a copy of the complaint by the victim.
In a related development, the Pune Police are now in action mode as they have inquired about the whereabouts of the accused, Dattatray Gade. However, the police sources said that Gade’s brother told them that the accused did not come to his home, and he does not have a mobile phone. Further, the police have questioned Gade’s girlfriend and have called his parents for questioning.
The police sources said the investigation carried so far by them revealed that Dattatray Ramdas Gade is a resident of Gunat village in Shirur taluka from the Pune district. He has three acres of ancestral land and a family house. His parents work in the field. He also has a brother, a wife and children. Gade has no job and was moving around in search of employment. The police sources said that he had indulged in robbery to earn money quickly. Besides, he had engaged in the looting of villagers. He is a history-sheeter, the police have said.
Gade bought a four-wheeler in 2019 by raising a loan for transporting passengers from Pune to Ahilyanagar. During this time, he used to give lifts, especially to elderly women wearing jewellery and rob them at knife point. Gade had contested the election in Gunat village for the post under the state government’s TantaMukti Abhiyan (dispute-free village campaign) but lost it.
The police sources said he was also engaged in election work during the recent Assembly polls. Gade had committed a robbery at Kare Ghat near Shirur village in 2020. He was also charged with robbery and sentenced. He also has two cases registered in Shikrapur, Supa, Kedgaon and Kotwali police stations in the Ahilyanagar district.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut claimed that the incident in the Shivshahi bus in Swargate depot from Pune is similar to the Nirbhaya case in Delhi. “Fortunately, the victim's life was saved. Our Shiv Sainiks staged a strong protest at Swargate. Vasant More, Sanjay More and women activists protested. Now cases will be registered against them. There is no longer any fear of law to the gangs operating in Pune. The Home Minister is using the Home Department for political work mainly to harass the opposition,” he said.
Shiv Sena(UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray condemned the incident and asked where Maharashtra was heading. “The same in Mumbai too. Attack on Marathi too. No one is afraid of the police,” he said. He gave a pat on party activists, including Vasant More, who staged a protest at the Swargate bus depot.
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