Police have launched a manhunt after a man raped a 26-year-old woman on a bus. The man with a criminal record allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman inside a stationary state transport bus at the busy Swargate bus stand in the city, police said on Wednesday.
The criminal has been identified as Datta Gade. He has cases of theft and chain snatching registered against him, police sources said.
Swargate is one of the largest bus junctions of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC).
The woman told police that she was waiting for a bus at the bus station at one of the platforms early morning around 5.30 am, a man approached her and said the bus had come to another platform.
This man then took the woman to an empty bus parked at another place and made her sit. Meanwhile, he started talking to the woman to distract her attention from any suspicion.
While the woman got settled on her seat this man got up and raped her. It was still dark when the incident took place.
After a while, the woman came to her senses from the trauma this man had caused to her and raised an alarm.
Police identified the accused from CCTV footage, and multiple teams have been formed to track him down, the official said.
