Drone Hunt Leads to Capture of Fugitive in Pune

A man accused of raping a woman inside a bus at Pune's Swargate bus station was captured after a hunt involving drones and sniffer dogs. Dattaray Ramdas Gade was apprehended in his native village after requesting food and water, alerting authorities to his whereabouts.

A man on the run for allegedly raping a woman inside a bus at Pune's Swargate bus station was arrested after a high-tech police search. The accused, Dattaray Ramdas Gade, was tracked down using drones and sniffer dogs to his native village in Shirur, officials said on Friday.

Authorities launched a significant search operation involving 13 teams after Gade allegedly assaulted a 26-year-old woman early on Tuesday. Despite switching off his mobile phone, Gade was located after asking for food and water from a local household, which led police to his hiding spot.

Gade, who has previous charges of theft and robbery, was captured in a paddy field at midnight. He was swiftly brought to Pune for medical examination and is set to appear in court. Joint commissioner of police, Ranjan Kumar Sharma, oversaw the search efforts.

(With inputs from agencies.)