Pune, Maharashtra (February 2, 2025): Dattatray Ramdas Gade, the prime accused in the Swargate Shivshahi bus rape case, was remanded to 12 days in police custody by the Judicial Magistrate First Class Court on Friday.
Defence lawyer Advocate Wajid Khan said, "He (Dattatray Ramdas Gade) has been sent to 12-day police custody. The earlier cases on him were of robbery, not rape. The Investigating Officer said that he is a habitual offender but he was not convicted in any of the previous cases. It was 5.45 am the morning (the time of the alleged incident); she could have shouted and sought help. Nothing was done forcefully."
Gade, accused of raping a 26-year-old woman inside a stationary state-run MSRTC bus at Swargate, was arrested by the police around midnight on Thursday. The police used drones and sniffer dogs to track him down as he was hiding in a paddy field in his native Shirur tehsil.
After 15 hours of interrogation, the accused was produced before JMFC T.S. Gaygole for legal proceedings.