2 people held for aiding Telangana arms heist

The Telangana police on Tuesday detained two more people in connection with the theft of arms and ammunition from the armoury of the Indian Army’s Madras Regiment in Secunderabad on August 31, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The two were identified as armoury in-charges Vinod and Sheshu (one names). They are accused of helping primary accused, army havildar Upputholla Mallesh (retired), 37, steal the cache. Mallesh was arrested on September 11 and is in police custody.

“While interrogating Mallesh, we learned that Vinod and Seshu, who were in-charges of the armoury, had assisted him in the theft. At least three others are also believed to have helped Mallesh in transporting weapons from the cantonment area to his house,” a police officer said. “After ascertaining the facts, we will formally arrest the two people and produce them before the court,” the officer added.

Mallesh had joined the Army in 2010 and worked for 16 years before he was compulsorily retired due to discipline and health issues on June 30, police said. He stole the arms and ammunition out of disgruntlement because his superiors forced him into early retirement, police said.

On the intervening night of August 30 and 31, Mallesh stole a cache of arms and ammunition from the Bell of Arms at the 20 battalion Madras Regiment’s headquarters at Bolarum in Secunderabad Cantonment. He took the stolen cache to his house in Kowkoor village of Yapral mandal in Rangareddy district, and then to his house in his original village, Jangam Reddy Pally, in Amrabad mandal of Nagarkurnool.

The police arrested him on September 11 and a Hyderabad court on September 22 sent him into policy custody for 10 days.

The police recovered stolen arms including 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, from his residence at Kowkoor village of Yapral mandal in Rangareddy district and also his native village Jangam Reddy Pally in Amrabad mandal of Nagarkurnool. Police said they also recovered an additional 810 rounds of ammunition allegedly stolen by Mallesh from another hideout in his village.

Police said they found evidence of financial transactions between Mallesha and Vinod. Police are now conducting a detailed probe into these transactions to determine whether they were connected to the alleged theft of the weapons.

As part of the investigation, police have conducted a scene reconstruction to establish how the weapons were allegedly stolen and to ascertain the possible involvement of other people.