A court here in Maharashtra on Wednesday remanded the accused in the Swargate bus rape case to police custody till March 26.

The accused, Dattatray Gade, had allegedly raped a 26-year-old woman inside a stationary state transport (MSRTC) bus at the Swargate terminus in the early hours of February 25, police said.

Gade was produced in court after completing his 12-day police custody in the afternoon.

"We sought his judicial custody, reserving the rights of police custody of two days. The court sent Gade to judicial custody till March 26," a crime branch officer said.

According to the police, the victim was waiting for a bus at the Swargate bus stand to go to her native place in Satara district in the early morning of February 25 when Gade approached her posing as a bus conductor, and offered to take her to a waiting bus.

As per the complaint, the victim went with Gade inside a bus, only to find it empty with no lights. The accused followed her inside the bus, closed both doors and allegedly raped her.

Gade, who faces half a dozen criminal cases, was tracked down in an agriculture field near his native Gunat village under Shirur tehsil of Pune district with the help of drones and sniffer dogs.

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