HYDERABAD: Police suspect that at least three more persons helped former Army havildar Upputholla Mallesh steal arms and ammunition from a military armoury in Secunderabad, officials said.
A day after Bollarum police arrested the 37-year-old former Army employee, they invoked additional sections of the Arms Act. Mallesh was produced before a court and sent to Chanchalguda Central Jail in judicial remand.
Police suspect Mallesh had accomplices, but a police official said he had deleted his phone chats before being sent to judicial remand.
Director General of Police (DGP) CV Anand had said police suspected one more person and that further details would emerge during the probe.
According to a source, Mallesh placed some of the weapons on the footboard of his scooter and drove from the armoury to a nearby temple. The source said he may have managed to escape from there because it was raining on the night of August 30, when the theft took place.
Another source told TNIE that Mallesh had brought an iron rod from outside the premises and used it to break two locks. He first entered a building by breaking the lock of a room and took out the weapons stored there. He then moved to another building a few metres away, where he identified the boxes containing the required ammunition and took them outside.
The source said it took Mallesh nearly an hour to break the second lock. With no one present in the area and CCTV cameras reportedly not functioning, he managed to carry out the theft without being detected.