Hyderabad, September 11, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Telangana Police have arrested a retired Army Havaldar in connection with the theft of a large cache of arms and ammunition from the Madras Regiment armoury at Secunderabad Cantonment last month, with the entire stolen cache subsequently recovered.
The accused, Upputholla Mallesh, 37, is a former Havaldar of the 20th Battalion, Madras Regiment. He was arrested in a joint operation by Bollarum Police, the Hyderabad City Police Task Force and the Special Operations Team (SOT) of Malkajgiri Commissionerate.
Telangana Director General of Police C.V. Anand said the preliminary investigation indicated that Mallesh may have committed the theft out of disgruntlement over his early retirement. Prima facie, he appeared to have acted alone, although investigators were examining whether anyone else was involved.
The recovered cache includes four AK-203 assault rifles with five magazines, one INSAS rifle with three magazines, six 9 mm pistols with 12 magazines, one civil 6.35-bore pistol with a magazine and a passive night-vision binocular.
Police also recovered 1,156 rounds of 9 mm pistol ammunition, 720 rounds of AK-203 ammunition, 11 ball rounds, five tracer rounds and 20 blank rounds of 5.56 mm INSAS ammunition.
The theft took place on the intervening night of August 30 and 31 from the Kote and Magazine of the 20 Battalion. A case was registered at Bollarum Police Station under Sections 331(4) and 305 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Anand said the case initially appeared to be the work of an insider because access to the facility was restricted. Investigators examined personnel with access to the arms and ammunition stores, including 10 members from the headquarters corps, six from the ammunition corps, seven QRT personnel, outsourced workers such as electricians and plumbers, contractors, 34 personnel sent on punishment, those on leave and seven members who had been pensioned out in the preceding months.
The investigation also involved extensive technical analysis, mobile forensics, CCTV footage, fingerprint examination and call tracking. Intelligence agencies analysed around 8.5 lakh mobile numbers as investigators explored possible links to the drug mafia and other threats to national security.
Investigators eventually narrowed the list to two recently pensioned personnel, including Mallesh, who was living with his family in Balajinagar, Secunderabad Cantonment.
Police found his movements from August 27 onwards suspicious and inconsistent with his statements. He was brought to Nagarkurnool Police Station for questioning on September 7 but initially did not disclose his movements. His failure to appear when subsequently summoned further strengthened investigators’ suspicions.
Analysis of his mobile phone showed that he had deleted chats and call records. On September 10, while being taken to the Task Force office in Hyderabad, Mallesh confessed to the theft, according to the DGP.
The investigation found that Mallesh had conducted reconnaissance of the armoury on August 27, 28 and 29. On the night of August 30, he left his Balajinagar residence on a motorcycle, entered the facility, broke the lock and removed the weapons and ammunition.
He transported the stolen items for about two kilometres and concealed them at a temple before returning to the facility after realising that he had left behind the magazine cover. He subsequently returned home at 4.33 a.m., placed the magazine cover in his car and went back to the temple.
From there, he transferred the stolen arms into his car and drove towards Achampet, eventually hiding the weapons and ammunition near his residence in Nagarkurnool district.
On September 6, he moved the cache to another house in the same district but brought it back to the original hiding place on September 8.
After his confession, investigating agencies recovered the complete cache.
Anand described the case as a major challenge for Telangana Police and credited the coordinated efforts of the Malkajgiri Police Zone, Hyderabad City Police Task Force and Telangana State Intelligence Department for the breakthrough.
Mallesh had joined the Army in 2010 and served for 16 years before retiring on June 30 this year on grounds of indiscipline and poor health. The DGP said police had, for the time being, not found evidence linking him to arms dealers, while further investigation by Army authorities was also expected.
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