Hyderabad, Sep 13 : A court in Telangana's Secunderabad has sent former army NCO Upputholla Mallesh to police custody for seven days in connection with the theft of firearms and ammunition from the 20 Battalion, Madras Regiment's armoury in Bolarum.
Police will take the accused into custody on Monday for further interrogation in the sensational case, sources said on Sunday.
The investigators will grill Mallesh further on the basis of information provided by him during the preliminary questioning after his arrest.
Mallesh, 37, had allegedly committed the theft on the intervening night of August 30 and 31. The police had announced the arrest of Mallesh on September 11. The same day, he was sent to judicial custody for 14 days and lodged at Chanchalguda Central Prison.
Telangana Police will also share details to be gathered during the questioning with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Army authorities for further investigation.
Telangana Director General of Police C. V. Anand had stated at the press conference on Friday that prima facie, Mallesh acted alone in committing the offence. He, however, had said that police were continuing the investigation into the possible role of others.
During police custody, investigators are likely to elicit information from Mallesh if he was helped by anyone in committing the offence and if he handed over weapons to others for hiding.
The DGP had announced that the entire cache of arms and ammunition stolen from Kote & Magazine of 20 Battalion, Madras Regiment was recovered.
Bollarum police, along with Hyderabad Task Force and SOT Malkajgiri Commissionerate, had arrested Mallesh in a joint operation.
The intention behind the theft preliminarily appears to be disgruntlement out of early retirement from service, the DGP had said.
Hailing from Nagarkurnool district, Mallesh joined the Indian Army in 2010 and worked for 16 years before retirement from service on June 30, 2026, on the grounds of indiscipline
and poor health.
After thorough investigation, police had zeroed in on Mallesh, a native of Jangareddypalle village of Nagarkurnool district who was staying with family at Balajinagar in Secunderabad Cantonment. His movements since August 27 and on the day of the offence were suspicious and did not match what he was saying.
Investigations revealed that on August 27, 28 and 29, he had gone to the area on a recce of the arms depository. On the night of August 30, he broke the lock of the arms and ammunition stores and carried the stolen cache on his bike and later transported the same in his car to Nagarkurnool district, where he hid it near his house.
The stolen arms and ammunition included four AK-203 assault rifles along with five magazines, an INSAS rifle with three magazines, six 9 mm pistols along with 12 magazines, one civil 6.35-bore pistol along with a magazine, one passive night-vision binocular, 1,156 rounds of ammunition of 9mm pistol, 720 rounds of AK-203 ammunition, 11 ball, 5 tracer and 20 blank rounds of 5.56 mm INSAS ammunition.
Police to grill ex-soldier in Secunderabad armoury heist case
