No CCTV, broken locks: Behind arms theft in Secunderabad

The police suspect he had accomplices, while an official said Mahesh deleted his phone chat history before being sent to judicial remand.

Hyderabad: Former Army Havildar Uppotholla Mallesh reportedly had at least three people assisting him in stealing the cache of arms and ammunition from Secunderabad Cantonment, police said.

Bollarum police arrested Umesh on Friday, September 11, nearly a fortnight after the theft came to light. A day after his arrest, the police included additional sections of the Arms Act and produced Mahesh before a court. He was later sent to Chanchalguda Central Jail in judicial remand.

The police suspect he had accomplices, while an official said Mahesh deleted his phone chat history before being sent to judicial remand.

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Mahesh allegedly kept a few of the weapons on his scooter’s footboard and drove from the armoury to a nearby temple, New Indian Express reported, citing sources. The ex-havildar likely escaped the temple under the cover of heavy rain on the night of August 30, the sources said.

Broke open two locks

Mallesh had earlier brought an iron rod from outside the armoury, the source said, which he used to break open the two locks. First, he entered by breaking the locks of a room and stole the arms. Moving to another building a few metres away, Mahesh identified the necessary ammunition boxes and carried them outside. Opening the second lock took him nearly an hour, the source added.

With the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras not operating at the time and no one around in the vicinity, Mahesh ended up carrying out the massive theft without alerting anyone or being detected.

Mallesh, 37, a resident of Jangam Reddy Pally in Amrabad of Nagarkurnool district, served in the Indian Army for 16 years after joining in 2010 and retired on June 30 this year, according to a statement from the Director General of Police’s (DGP) office.

Resentment over early retirement

The police said a preliminary probe suggests the theft appears to have been driven by resentment over his early retirement from service.

The stolen cache comprised four AK-203 7.62×39 mm rifles with five magazines, one 5.56 mm INSAS 1B1 rifle with three magazines, six 9 mm Auto 1A pistols with 12 magazines, a civilian 6.35 bore pistol with magazine and a passive night-vision binocular. Also taken were 1,156 rounds of 9 mm pistol ammunition, 720 rounds of AK-203 ammunition and 36 rounds of INSAS ammunition comprising 11 ball, five tracer and 20 blank rounds.