Pune Bus Rape Case: Conflict Brews Among Gunat Villagers Over ₹1 Lakh Prize Money

Gunat village in Pune district's Shirur taluka has been in the news for the past few days after Dattatraya Ramdas Gade, the 37-year-old man, was tracked down and arrested from here following a massive manhunt involving drones, sniffer dogs, 13 police teams and human intelligence. He has been accused of allegedly raping a woman inside a parked state transport bus at Swargate depot in Pune city on February 25.

After the arrest, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar thanked the Gunat villagers for cooperating with the teams in nabbing the accused. He said the police would reward ₹1 lakh to the last informant from the village. However, following the announcement of the reward, a conflict has broken out among the villagers as many of them are claiming that they have caught Gade or provided information regarding him.

As a result, Gunat Sarpanch Ramdas Kakde said that the villagers would refuse the reward money announced by police. “Because of the reward money, various people are saying that they caught him or provided the information. We (panchayat) want to have a meeting where we will say that we don’t want a single rupee of the reward. We have spoken to the people who helped the police catch the accused and they have also agreed. The village has been defamed because of this incident. This is not something to be proud of,” Kakde told IE.

Meanwhile, Gade's lawyers have claimed in court that he did not rape the victim but that both had consensual physical relations. He is currently in police custody till March 12.