3 weeks Ago
Pune: The Crime Branch of the Pune city police on Thursday filed an 893-page chargesheet stating that there was enough evidence to establish accused Dattatray Gade's guilt in the Feb 25 rape of a 26-year-old health counsellor in a Shivshahi bus parked overnight on the premises of MSRTC's Swargate depot. "We have collected sufficient direct, primary, secondary and circumstantial evidence that links the accused with the crime and establishes his guilt," deputy commissioner of police (crime) Nikhil Pingale told TOI on Thursday. The evidence includes forensic analysis of CCTV footage that show Gade with his face covered by a mask at the time of the crime and later without a mask.
The analysis established that the footage was of one and the same person, Pingale said. A total of 82 witnesses have been named in the chargesheet filed in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class V A Makandar, with the survivor herself being the star witness. The health counsellor was waiting for a bus at one of the platforms at Swargate bus depot at 5.
45am on Feb 25 for going to her native place at Phaltan in Satara district. Accused Dattatraya Gade approached her and struck up a friendly conversation. He told her that a Phaltan-bound bus was parked nearby, and she could take a seat there before it moved to the platform.
She believed in him and got into the bus. Gade followed her inside, locked the bus door and allegedly raped her twice. DCP (crime) Pingale said, "DNA reports related to semen, nail and hair samples of the accused came out positive.
DNA reports of hair samples of the accused and the survivor collected from the bus also came out positive. A sound output study or comparative voice-level aimed at scientifically establishing if the survivor's cries for help from inside the bus could have been heard by people outside, and a Google search history location to establish the presence of the accused at the depot, are part of a total of 12 panchanamas submitted in support of our case." The survivor identified the accused in a test identification parade (TIP) — another crucial piece of evidence.
Five witnesses, who saw the accused and the survivor together before and after the crime, also recorded statements before a magistrate as per provisions under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the officer said. Investigating officer and senior inspector Shailesh Sankhe said Gade's cellphone could not be recovered but the SIM card details of the same and online search history to collect videos, audios and photographs for the purpose of evidence had been secured. Assistant public prosecutor Bhagyashree Sancheti said, "The time limit to file a chargesheet under Section 187 of the BNSS is 90 days.
But the police expedited the investigation and filed the chargesheet on the 52nd day. The same will now be transferred to a sessions court on April 26 for proceedings related to trial.".
