“He is right in front of me,” said a confidential informant in a call to the Walchandnagar police team in the last week of April earlier this year. The tip-off led to a quick operation and the arrest of the third accused in the 2024 Bopdev Ghat gangrape case after a six-month search. Suraj Dashrath Gosavi alias Bapya, 33, was arrested on April 26 from a bus stand in the Akluj town of Solapur district.
A 21-year-old woman and her male friend, both college students and not natives of Pune, had gone to the Bopdev Ghat area on a motorcycle on the night of October 3 last year. Around 11 pm, three men came to the spot on their bikes and allegedly threatened them with sharp weapons and robbed their valuables. The accused allegedly tied the woman’s male friend with his shirt and belt, dragged her to an isolated area and raped her.
The Bopdev Ghat gangrape case sparked significant public outrage. An extensive manhunt initiated by the crime branch of the Pune city police resulted in the arrest of two accused within days of the crime. Chandrakumar Raviprasad Kanojiya, 20, a native of Dindori in Madhya Pradesh (MP), was arrested on October 10, and Akhtar Babu Shaikh, 27, alias Shoaib, was arrested from Prayagraj on October 14. The police then said Shaikh was the mastermind of the crime.
However, the third accused, Gosavi, continued to evade capture and remained at large for several months. Investigations revealed that he had stopped using his cell phone and did not visit his wife, family, or friends.
Multiple investigation teams worked on leads. The accused already arrested by Pune city police, allegedly gave a false name to mislead the investigation. The two initially told the police that the name of the third accused was Somnath Yadav. However, a probe ascertained his name as Suraj Dashrath Gosavi alias Bapya.
An officer from Pune Rural police said, “The last known residence of Gosavi was in the jurisdiction of Walchandnagar police station in Pune rural jurisdiction. While the Pune city crime branch continued their probe, a team from Pune Rural police was also looking for Gosavi, since he was accused in a very sensitive case.”
“The team led by Assistant Inspector Rajkumar Dunage of the Walchandnagar police station patiently cultivated confidential informants to keep a tab on the movement of Gosavi. The patient work finally paid off on April 26. One of these confidential informants had called a team member from Walchandnagar police station. At the time, the team was investigating an unrelated murder case and was on the road for investigation,” said the officer.
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The officer added, “The informant said, ‘He (Bapya) is right in front of me)’. As the informant was asked to keep track of his movements, some members of the team probing the unrelated murder case were sent to the location where he was seen. Minutes later, the informant said that Bapya had gotten into the cabin of a water tanker and was on
the move. We asked the informant to follow the tanker. Sometime later, our team also started tailing him. When he got down at the bus stand in Akluj town in the Solapur district, he was detained by the team. He was subsequently handed over to the crime branch of the Pune city police for further probe.”
Investigation revealed while he was evading arrest, Gosavi changed his location and worked as a labourer at several places to earn money. After his arrest, Gosavi was remanded in police custody. He is currently in judicial remand in jail pending a trial against the trio.
