The Pune Police on Friday arrested the man who allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman inside a bus at the city’s Swargate bus stand on February 25, ANI reported.

The man, Dattatraya Gade, was detained from the Gunat village in Pune district shortly after midnight after an intensive search operation, and was later placed under arrest. He will be produced before court on Friday.

Pune Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar said that a special counsel will be appointed for the case, and the investigation will be fast-tracked. “We will undertake all efforts to ensure that the accused is punished at the earliest,” he said, according to ANI.

The police commissioner said that nearly 500 police officials were involved in the operation to trace Gade. He added that 400 to 500 residents of the Gunat village helped the police trace the accused man.

“I will personally visit the village to honour the villagers who helped us,” Kumar said.

During the operation to trace Gade, teams from the Pune City police and Pune Rural police searched the area around Gunat, going through sugarcane fields and using drones and a dog squad, The Indian Express reported.

The case

Around 5.30 am on Tuesday, the 26-year-old woman was waiting for a bus to Paithan town at Pune city’s Swargate bus stand. The suspect approached her and claimed that her bus had arrived on another platform, according to reports.

The woman followed the man to an empty bus that was parked in an isolated spot on the premises. When she boarded the bus, the man allegedly followed her inside, raped her and then escaped.

The woman filed a complaint on Wednesday.

The police on Wednesday identified Gade as the suspect, and said that he has previous cases of theft and chain-snatching registered against him.

The case sparked protests by the Opposition, which accused the state government of failing to maintain law and order.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Vasant More and his supporters vandalised the office of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation to protest the crime.

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule had said that the crime took place even though there is a police post nearby, and police personnel patrol the area. “The fact that the accused man still dared to commit such a heinous crime shows that criminals have no fear of the law,” she said.