Ex-Havildar held with stolen Army weapons

Hyderabad: A 37-year-old Havildar, who was suspended from the Madras Regiment, allegedly stole service weapons from the 20 Battalion Madras Regiment premises by breaking open the locks of the Keeper of Technical Equipment (KOTE) room. He later fled with the weapons and reportedly dumped them at his native place. Police suspect the theft was an act of retaliation after he was terminated from Army service.

Police on Friday arrested the former Army man and recovered the stolen weapons intact. The haul included four AK-203 rifles (7.62 x 39 mm) with five magazines, a 5.56 mm INSAS 1B1 rifle with three magazines, two 9 mm Auto 1A pistols with 12 magazines, a civil 6.35-bore pistol with a magazine, a passive night-vision binocular, and ammunition. The recovered ammunition included 1,156 rounds of AK-203 ammunition and 720 rounds of 5.56 mm INSAS ammunition, among other items.

Explaining about the case, the Director General of Police (DGP) CV Anand on Friday told media persons that the suspended havildar was zeroed in the case by getting leads about his regular movements and seized intact stolen property from his possession. The accused Upputholla Mallesh, 37, havildar (Retd.), 20 Battalion, Madras Regiment, a resident of Jangamreddypally, Amrabad, Nagarkurnool district.

"After registering cases following the complaint, the police have kept a close vigil on KOTE and Ammunition in-charges, staff, regular visitors like electricians, contractors, and recently suspended, retired, and staff went on leave. Police have tracked more than eight lakh mobile numbers and recorded the CCTV footage with the assistance of experts," Anand said.

The DGP stated that the investigators identified Mallesh as accused based on the leads and call data. However, Mallesh erased his call data, chat data, and others from his mobile phone. Based on the inputs, a team visited Nagarkurnool district and took assistance of local police keeping a close vigil on the accused. Police nabbed him and found possessing stolen weapons.

Mallesh joined the Indian Army in the year 2010 and worked for 16 years and recently retired from service on June 30, 2026. The intention behind the theft preliminarily appears to be disgruntlement out of early retirement from service. According to his plan, on August 31, the accused came to Madras Regiment, Bolarum area, at about 11 pm and the accused stole service weapons.

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The Hans India