Just after the Pune police have launched manhunt for the accused who raped a 26-year-old woman inside a stationary state transport bus at the busy Swargate bus stand in the city on Tuesday, a new shocking detail on how the girl was tricked by the accused inside the empty bus has come to the fore.
He called her 'didi'
Around 5.45 am on Tuesday, as the surviver waited for her bus to Phaltan, a man approached her and engaged her in conversation, calling her `Didi' (sister), and said the bus for Satara had arrived at another platform.
He then took her to an empty `Shiv Shahi' AC bus parked elsewhere on the sprawling station premises.
As the lights inside the bus were not on, she hesitated to get in at first, but the man convinced her that it was the right bus. She could board the bus and look for herself using a torch, he told her. He then followed her inside and raped her before fleeing, the woman told police.
Accused identified
The accused has been identified as Dattatray Ramdas Gade. He has cases of theft registered against him at Shikrapur and Shirur police stations, they added.
According to the police, the victim is a counselor at a hospital and resides in the Aundh-Baner area. On Tuesday, around 6am, when she was waiting for a bus to Phaltan at one of the platforms, the accused approached her and said the bus had arrived at another platform.
"The victim initially did not have the courage to file a case. However, after narrating the incident to a friend, she returned and lodged a police complaint at Swargate police station. A total of eight police teams have been deployed to find the accused. The victim has been sent for a medical examination at Sassoon General Hospital. She is stable now," they added.
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