Hyderabad: ‘All’s well that ends well’ is a saying that has no room in the armed forces. Any officer, retired or serving, will tell you this. The slightest indiscretion or a brief moment of indiscipline invites tough and disproportionate punishment, even if you correct yourself.Lost a compass or a walking stick during training and found it a few minutes later? Your senior will still come down on you as if you are the enemy. The fact that you found the missing article does not mean you won’t be punished. Lost a bullet casing during firearms training? You are not returning to the barracks until you find it, no matter how much time it takes, no matter the terrain and the conditions.And every single piece of equipment is carefully accounted for with checks and double-checks in place every time a weapon is taken out of the armoury and brought back.This is the sort of rigorous training officers and jawans of the Indian armed forces go through before they are given the responsibility of defending our borders.This is also the reason why many ex-servicemen are stunned about 12 high-end firearms — AK-203s and INSAS rifles included — being stolen from the Madras Regiment’s armoury at Bollaram in Secunderabad on the night of Aug 30. Besides the weapons, the burglars had also got away with around 2,000 rounds of relevant ammunition.The case has been solved now but has raised many crucial questions. Interestingly enough, the weapons and the ammunition were kept in two different rooms 40 metres apart. The burglars struck at both places and yet the guards on duty claimed they saw nothing.Investigators, including Military Intelligence sleuths, had from the beginning suspected it to be an insider job. Initially, they questioned 10 persons before zeroing down on four for sustained questioning.A burglary of this nature and scale is unheard of in the armed forces. Former officers will tell you of stray instances where the odd jawan walked away with his service weapon. But he was tracked down within hours and such instances are handled only by the defence establishment without involving the police. In fact, involving the police in itself is considered an embarrassment for the armed forces.The weapons — now learnt to have been recovered — were untraceable for more than 10 days despite police officers, Military Intelligence sleuths and local officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the case.Sources TOI spoke to said that there was a possibility that the smugglers may have identified a buyer before the theft.Sources added that to execute a heist of this type within a matter of a few hours at night requires more than one person’s involvement. Though the main roads in the cantonment fall under Bollaram police station and are accessible to civilian motorists, the sensitive areas are heavily guarded by armed personnel.Some of the investigators also claimed that the armoury records were not meticulously maintained. In fact, when a search operation was carried out within the cantonment after the burglary, an empty INSAS magazine was recovered from a stormwater drain. This only added to the doubts about how carefully the records were maintained.Police officers said the clinical manner in which the burglary was executed made it a difficult case to crack.The Agniveer questionThe discussion in the defence community is how did the rigorous systems created to prevent exactly this kind of burglary collapse so easily?The burglary has also rekindled the debate on whether the Agniveer scheme is good for the Indian armed forces, especially since the main suspects of the burglary are Agniveers. Disturbingly, the first batch of Agniveers will end their tenure with the Army around Nov 2026, making many wonder if the adventurous among them would test the boundaries of discipline and law within the forces.“Before the Agnipath scheme, jawans would stop competing with each other once they were in the Army,” said a retired officer. “But now, these highly trained men will leave the force and start competing for limited jobs in the police and the CAPF. There is concern that some of them may want to join an organised criminal outfit given their skills.”Meanwhile, sources in Telangana police said that solving the burglary was one part, and preventing the weapons from falling into wrong hands was another challenge.An officer who is privy about the probe developments told TOI, “Taking precautions while executing and transporting the weapons out of the armoury while leaving no traces shows the level of conspiracy.”“Stealing of weapons from a conflict zone, one can expect. But in this case, the heist happened in what is considered a peaceful cantonment, that too without violence. The armoury is given utmost importance in the force,” an ex-army person said on the condition of anonymity. “This should not have happened.”Questions the case raised:Were the weapons smuggled out at one go or in batches?At exactly what time did the burglars break into the two rooms of the armoury on Aug 30 night?How did the breach happen despite seven guards posted at the armoury at any given time. All of them claimed to have not noticed the security breach until the next morningHow were the weapons smuggled out of the cantonment? How was this done given the heavy security at every corner?Why were CCTV cameras at the armoury switched off at night?—- —Armoury protocolEvery day at 6am, a non-commissioned officer (NCO) and a junior commissioned officer (JCO) reach the armoury carrying a sealed box, holding the keys to the rooms.After unsealing the box, the keys are used to open the doors. After verifying the stock of weapons, they start issuing weapons to personnel. They will accept the return of weapons from the personnel on night duty.While issuing and accepting weapons, the JCO and the officer or jawan to whom the weapon is issued must sign a register.Once the exercise is complete, the doors are locked and the keys are returned to the sealed box.Any person who misplaces a bullet, magazine or weapon must face a court of inquiry (COI) and the punishment is expected to be harsh.What happened: On Aug 31, Army personnel found locks of two rooms — arms room and ammunition room — forcibly broken. As many as 12 weapons — five assault rifles and seven pistols — and its relevant ammunition were missing. A Madras Regiment Lieutenant Colonel rank officer lodged a police complaint with the Bollaram police station.
