Telangana police have arrested a retired army havildar linked to the theft of a significant number of firearms and ammunition. The incident occurred during the night of August 30 and 31 at the Bell of Arms, located at the 20 battalion Madras Regiment’s headquarters in Secunderabad cantonment. Authorities confirmed the arrest on Friday, highlighting the ongoing investigation into the theft.
Since he was a familiar face, the guard at the gate did not suspect him when he was entering the area, they added. “Subsequently, he travelled for a couple of kilometres on his bike and later transferred them into his Maruti Brezza car which he was driving to carry passengers to eke out his livelihood. He travelled towards Srisailam Road and carried passengers midway to avoid being suspected. The investigation was jointly carried out by the Hyderabad Task Force, Special Operations Team (SOT), law-and-order police and intelligence officials. Police initially suspected that the theft involved only insiders and ruled out the involvement of outsiders.
The police also recovered all the stolen weapons and ammunition from the accused, identified as Upputholla Mallesh (37), at his residence at Kowkoor village in Rangareddy district and also his native village Jangam Reddy Pally in Nagarkurnool disctrict. “Mallesh was booked under Sections 331 (4) (house breaking in the night for theft) and 305 (aggravated forms of theft of public property) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Explaining the modus operandi of the arms theft, police said Mallesh came to the Kote and Battalion Magazine (arms and ammunition storage) of Madras Regiment on his two-wheeler around 11 pm on August 30. The stolen arms included four AK-203 rifles, one 5.56 mm INSAS rifle, six 9 mm pistols and a civilian 6.35-bore pistol. Police also recovered 1,156 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, 720 rounds of AK-203 ammunition and INSAS ammunition, besides magazines and other equipment.
He was produced in the local court and remanded to judicial custody,” director general of police C V Anand said at a press conference. After dropping the passengers en route, he reached his native village in Amrabad,” the DGP said.
Investigation Launched Following Arms Theft
On the morning of August 31, the officer in charge of the arms facility, Vinod Kumar Naik, discovered that several weapons were missing. He promptly reported the theft, leading the Bollaram police to register a case and initiate an investigation based on the army’s complaint.
