Bollarum arms theft: Accused kept pistol at home to show buyers

Mallesh, who served in the Madras Regiment for the 16 years, reportedly held a grudge against his susperiors after being discharged from duty on June 30.

Hyderabad: The prime accused in the arms theft at Madras Regiment in Bollarum had reportedly kept a pistol and a magazine at his rented house near Jawaharnagar to show them to prospective buyers while burying the rest of the cache in a pit at his father’s house in Achampet.

According to The Times of India, Malkajgiri Police had taken ex-havildar U Mallesh into custody from the Chanchalguda jail on September 22, for a period of 10 days.

Mallesh, who served in the Madras Regiment for 16 years, reportedly held a grudge against his superiors after being discharged from duty on June 30.

He reportedly wanted to work three more years but was discharged on grounds of health and discipline. Mallesh thought he would make up for the years of lost service by selling the weapons and started scouring social media to fulfil the ammunition demands of anti-social elements, the report stated.

Mallesh reportedly told investigators that he remained in close contact with four Army officers who were placed on security duty and used information gathered from them to execute the plan.

The officers reportedly told him that the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras get turned off at 8 pm on Sunday and that the movement of guards is less at the time.

Police are now probing if any of the personnel had an active role in the theft.

Mallesh had kept a stolen 9 mm pistol and a magazine containing 10 live rounds at his rented house and buried the AK-206 rifles, INSAS rifle, six pistols and ammunition.

The entire stolen cache was recovered after his arrest on September 11.

Mallesh said that he had used only an iron rod purchased from a roadside vendor in Yapral to break open the locks of the firearms kote and magazine on the night of August 30.

He spent over 90 minutes breaking the locks and packing the weapons and ammunition in gunny bags found near the armoury. He also claimed that he made two trips to transport all the weapons out of the military establishment, raising suspicion that he might have received assistance.

Other members of the Madras Regiment are being questioned, and any contact with potential buyers is being probed.