Finally, the Pune Police have made a breakthrough in the Bopdev Ghat gang rape case. They have arrested one of the three men accused of raping a 21-year-old woman on the night of October 3 on the outskirts of Pune city where she had gone with a male friend.
Speaking to the media, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar on Friday said, "One suspect has been arrested in connection with the gang rape and a search is on for his two associates involved in the crime."
Kumar gave a detailed account of the police investigation which took eight days for the first suspect to be nabbed. "The Bopdev Ghat area is totally isolated, with no street lights and CCTV cameras. We started our investigation with CCTV footage from nearby dhabas, shops, etc. We also used drone cameras to analyse as to which routes the culprits could have taken. About 700 police personnel were deployed to identify and trace them," said the Commissioner of Police.
"After a detailed and meticulous investigation, we found clear CCTV footage of the accused from a dhaba. After analysing their mobile phones, it was found that they were switched off at Saswad. They were smart as they knew if they took the main roads they could be caught by CCTV cameras, so they chose smaller roads. For covering a distance of 20 kilometres, they chose to travel 80 kilometres, and left Pune the day after the crime," he added.
"The arrested accused had come back to Pune, but he wasn't staying at his earlier residence. He was nabbed from the Warje area at around 4am on Friday. He is a native of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and the two other accused are also from there. They worked as labourers in Pune. The two others are currently in another state and are expected to be caught soon," the CP further said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the police released descriptions of the three suspects. According to the descriptions, the first suspect is approximately 25 years of age, has a wheatish complexion, is of medium build, has medium-length hair, was wearing jeans and a shirt, black-coloured slippers, a black-coloured jacket, and speaks Marathi. The second suspect is approximately 30 years of age, has a wheatish complexion, is of medium build, was wearing jeans and a full-sleeved shirt, a grey-coloured sweater, has a beard and moustache, and speaks Hindi. The third suspect is approximately 25 years of age, has a wheatish complexion, is of medium build, has a moustache, was wearing jeans and a skin-coloured leather jacket with a cap, and speaks Marathi.
The police had also announced a reward of ₹10 lakh for anyone who provides information about the suspects.
