MUMBAI: The Mumbai crime branch on Wednesday morning arrested a junior sailor Rakesh Dubbala (22) and his elder brother Umesh (25) from Asifabad in Telangana for the theft of a rifle and ammunition from Navy Nagar in Colaba and are probing a Naxal link in the case. Police suspect the duo planned to sell the weapon, possibly to Naxalites in Telangana.Police said Rakesh, who had been previously posted in Navy Nagar for 1.5 years before being transferred to the Navy’s Kochi base in Feb this year, entered the area using his ID card, posed as ‘reliever’ of another junior sailor and fled after allegedly collecting the rifle and ammunition from the sailor posted on duty.Rakesh collected the INSAS rifle and 40 bullets and later threw the gun across the compound wall, where it was collected by Umesh. The authorities have recovered the stolen weapons from the brothers. Umesh runs a ration shop in Adilabad.A source said Rakesh’s earlier posting facilitated his access to the area, as he had been well known to many during his tenure.District SP Kantilal Patil from Komuram Bheem Asifabad told TOI, “Rakesh, a Class 12th passout, was posted in the Indian Navy through the Agniveer batch of 2023 and served at Mumbai’s Navy base till Feb this year. After that, he was transferred to the Navy’s Kochi base. He was nabbed along with his brother Umesh from their village Erakpalli, Penchikalpet Mandal, district Komuram Bheem Asifabad after our team assisted the Mumbai crime branch (CIU) team in a joint operation carried out early morning. The brothers did not get time to escape as they had gone to sleep.”Sources said following the theft on Sept 6, the brothers travelled by train the next day through Pune before reaching their native village, Penchikalpet Mandal, Elakapalli. During preliminary inquiries, the two told police they stole the weapon for fun. “They are misleading the investigation by floating stories. They are being brought to Mumbai and will be produced before court. Once we get their custody, we will be able to interrogate them to know the exact motive,” police said.Police got the first leads from the CCTV footage, and someone identified Rakesh. “With technical help and human intelligence, we traced them to their native place,” said Lakhmi Gautam, joint CP. A source from the Navy said drills were conducted to identify and fix security loopholes believed to have been exploited after the imposter entered Navy Nagar and stole the rifle, three magazines and 40 bullets. “However, it is sad that the person turned out to be our own man from the Agniveer batch. The Navy is gathering information about the person to initiate action against him. Meanwhile, the Navy is waiting for more information from Mumbai police to know the motive and why the person chose Mumbai to steal after managing to enter the premises using his ID card,” the source added. The Western Naval Command (WNC) @IN_WNC posted on X on Wednesday, “The case of theft of rifle and ammunition from a sentry at a post in Naval Residential area in Mumbai has been expeditiously solved by the @MumbaiPolice, in close coordination with the Indian Navy.” Police have now invoked the Arms Act in the case.
