Telangana: Eight arrested in Bollarum Army arms theft case; weapons, ammunition recovered
Hyderabad, Oct 3 (TNT): Malkajgiri police have arrested eight persons including three serving Army personnel in connection with the theft of arms and ammunition from the Kote and Magazine of the 20 Battalion, Madras Regiment, at Bollarum and recovered four AK-203 rifles, an INSAS rifle, seven pistols and over 1,900 rounds of ammunition, Malkajgiri Commissioner of Police B. Sumathi said on Saturday
The theft came to light on August 31 when Army personnel found the locks of the Kote and Magazine broken and noticed that several firearms, ammunition and binoculars were missing.
Addressing a press conference here, Sumathi said the recovered property includes four AK-203 rifles with five magazines, one INSAS rifle with three magazines, six 9 mm pistols with 12 magazines, one civil pistol with a magazine, three binoculars, 1,156 pistol rounds, 720 AK-203 rounds and 36 INSAS rounds.
she said the main accused, Upputholla Mallesh @ Raju, a retired Havildar of the 20 Battalion, was arrested on September 11 and the stolen property was recovered from his father’s residence at Sai Nagar, Achampet.
During investigation, police allegedly found that Mallesh had planned the theft with the assistance of three former colleagues of the Madras Regiment and other associates, with an intention to use the stolen firearms to commit robberies of banks, jewellery shops and wealthy persons, the Commissioner said.
The accused persons also allegedly contacted two West Bengal-based persons to sell the stolen Army weapons and ammunition.
She said a country-made firearm allegedly purchased by Mallesh in 2022 was also recovered from his father’s house at Achampet.
She said the accused have been booked under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act, 1959. Police said no terrorist or extremist connections were found during the investigation.
The seven other accused are Konduri Sheshulu, Vinod Kumar, Kucharakanti Praveen, Avi Dey @ Obi, Birbal Shaw, Upputholla Mallikarjun and Chemmakar Niranjan.
While Mallesh was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on September 11, the remaining seven accused were arrested and were being produced before the court for judicial remand on Saturday, she added
TNT TS
