Hyderabad, September 29, 2026 — The investigation into the theft of firearms and ammunition from the Madras Regiment armoury at Bolarum in Secunderabad Cantonment has widened, with police examining the suspected role of four serving Army personnel after the prime accused stated that he obtained operational details from them before the burglary as reported by TOI.
Former Havildar Upputholla Mallesh, 37, who served 16 years with the 20th Battalion of the Madras Regiment, was arrested on September 11. During subsequent custodial interrogation, he told investigators that he remained in regular contact with four former colleagues deployed on kote, magazine and guard duties. Those contacts, he said, informed him that closed-circuit television cameras at the facility were switched off each night at 8 p.m. and that guard movement was lighter on Sundays. He accordingly planned the theft for the night of Sunday, August 30, and reached the armoury at about 11 p.m.
Malkajgiri police took Mallesh into 10-day police custody from Chanchalguda prison on September 22. Investigators are now questioning serving members of the regiment to determine whether any of the four personnel provided active assistance, in addition to information. An investigator said additional arrests are expected. Mallesh’s custody period is scheduled to end on October 1.
The theft was discovered on the morning of August 31 after locks on the kote (arms store) and the battalion magazine were found broken. The missing inventory comprised four AK-203 assault rifles, one INSAS rifle, seven pistols, magazines, a passive night-vision device and more than 1,800 rounds of ammunition. The entire cache was recovered after Mallesh’s arrest, principally from a pit on his father’s premises at Achampet in Nagarkurnool district. One 9 mm pistol and a magazine containing 10 live rounds had been kept separately at his rented house near Jawaharnagar so that they could be shown to prospective buyers.
Police say Mallesh was discharged on June 30 against his wishes on grounds of health and indiscipline. He had wanted three more years of service. Investigators state that the discharge left him embittered and that he sought both to cause trouble for superior officers and to recoup lost earnings by selling the weapons. He had, according to police, searched social media for demand among anti-social elements.
He used an iron rod purchased for Rs 150 from a roadside vendor in Yapral to force the locks and spent more than 90 minutes packing the items into empty gunny bags found near the armoury. He claimed to have made two trips on a scooter to remove the load. That account has reinforced suspicion that he received help.
The case has been investigated jointly by Malkajgiri police, the Hyderabad Task Force, Military Intelligence, State Intelligence and other agencies. Earlier stages of the inquiry had already focused on personnel who were on duty the night of the offence and on two serving soldiers a Lance Naik who held a supervisory role near the armoury the previous day and a Havildar posted elsewhere.
The Army has separately ordered a court of inquiry into security lapses, including the nightly shutdown of cameras, record-keeping at the armoury and the failure of sentries to detect the breach. No terror, espionage or organised-crime linkage has been established so far.
Police continue to examine Mallesh’s contacts with potential buyers and the precise roles, if any, of the four serving personnel named in his statements. Officials have indicated that the inquiry into possible insider facilitation remains active.
