Mumbai: A gas pipeline burst during road excavation in Mia Mohd Chhotani Road on Thursday, causing a fire on the road.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The excavation was being carried out for road repairs.

This is the second incident of a gas pipeline fire in a few days. Previously, a similar incident was reported from Bandra.

Mumbai, Feb 27: NCP-SP Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule on Thursday flagged an old letter written by the Swargate bus depot chief in Maharashtra’s Pune to the police regarding the security situation of the depot. A woman was sexually assaulted on a bus at the depot.

She also said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the home minister, needs to immediately review the law and order situation in Pune and take strict measures regarding women’s safety as well as the safety of bus stations.

Sule’s demand came a day after a 26-year-old was raped inside the bus of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) at the Swargate bus depot in Pune. Further, Sule, who has termed the incident intriguing, said that the chief minister needs to convene a meeting soon as the Swargate bus depot chief recently wrote to the Pune police administration seeking action against the private agents and other anti-social elements who are harassing the passengers.

In her post on X, Sule, who has attached the letter written by the Swargate bus depot chief to the police, said, “After the incident of sexual assault on a young woman in the premises of the Swargate bus station, serious questions have been raised regarding law and order. The Swargate depot chief has already written to the police administration from time to time that private agents and other anti social elements are harassing the passengers at the bus station and action should be taken against them. But still, it does not appear that the police administration has taken any action. The Swargate bus station is a busy place and the police system needs to be more vigilant there. It if the depot chief writes a letter and it is not taken into account the. It is very regrettable. The state home minister needs to immediately review the law and order situation in Pune and take strict measures regarding women’s safety and the safety of the bus station.”

Further, the Maharashtra Legislative Council deputy chairperson, Neelam Gorhe, who is also the founder of Stree Aadhar Kendra, has asked the police administration and transport department for the establishment of women’s vigilance committees at all bus stations in the state to further increase women’s safety.

Gorhe, who had visited the Swargate bus depot and the bus in which the sexual assault took place, also instructed that the number of security guards at bus depots should be increased and that the depot administration should regularly check CCTV footage, especially during the night.

Meanwhile, Pune police have formed 13 teams to arrest Dattatray Gade, a history sheeter involved in the bus rape incident. The police have also announced an award of Rs one lakh for giving information about Gade, who is still at large.

Mumbai, Feb 27: The National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken a serious note of the sexual assault on a 26-year-old woman inside the bus in Swargate bus depot in Pune and asked the state police chief to submit a detailed investigation report.

The Commission’s chairperson, Vijaya Rahatkar, in a letter to the state Director General of Police, Rashmi Shukla, has asked to submit an investigation report and also a copy of the complaint by the victim.

In a related development, the Pune Police are now in action mode as they have inquired about the whereabouts of the accused, Dattatray Gade. However, the police sources said that Gade’s brother told them that the accused did not come to his home, and he does not have a mobile phone. Further, the police have questioned Gade’s girlfriend and have called his parents for questioning.

The police sources said the investigation carried so far by them revealed that Dattatray Ramdas Gade is a resident of Gunat village in Shirur taluka from the Pune district. He has three acres of ancestral land and a family house. His parents work in the field. He also has a brother, a wife and children. Gade has no job and was moving around in search of employment. The police sources said that he had indulged in robbery to earn money quickly. Besides, he had engaged in the looting of villagers. He is a history-sheeter, the police have said.

Gade bought a four-wheeler in 2019 by raising a loan for transporting passengers from Pune to Ahilyanagar. During this time, he used to give lifts, especially to elderly women wearing jewellery and rob them at knife point. Gade had contested the election in Gunat village for the post under the state government’s TantaMukti Abhiyan (dispute-free village campaign) but lost it.

The police sources said he was also engaged in election work during the recent Assembly polls. Gade had committed a robbery at Kare Ghat near Shirur village in 2020. He was also charged with robbery and sentenced. He also has two cases registered in Shikrapur, Supa, Kedgaon and Kotwali police stations in the Ahilyanagar district.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut claimed that the incident in the Shivshahi bus in Swargate depot from Pune is similar to the Nirbhaya case in Delhi. “Fortunately, the victim’s life was saved. Our Shiv Sainiks staged a strong protest at Swargate. Vasant More, Sanjay More and women activists protested. Now cases will be registered against them. There is no longer any fear of law to the gangs operating in Pune. The Home Minister is using the Home Department for political work mainly to harass the opposition,” he said.

Shiv Sena(UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray condemned the incident and asked where Maharashtra was heading. “The same in Mumbai too. Attack on Marathi too. No one is afraid of the police,” he said. He gave a pat on party activists, including Vasant More, who staged a protest at the Swargate bus depot.