Two days after the West Division police recovered two stolen weapons from a head constable after a gap of 11 years, another constable reported that his service pistol had been stolen. The constable, attached to City Armed Reserve (CAR), is currently serving as gunman for Pilla Muniswamy, MLA for Devanahalli .
“The theft took place on February 24, but the constable, Narasimha Murthy, filed a complaint with us only the next day,” said the Yelahanka police, who are now questioning the delay in reporting the incident.
In his complaint, Mr. Murthy said that he was on security duty at Mr. Muniswamy’s residence when the former Prime Minister and JD(S) national president H.D. Deve Gowda visited the MLA.
“He told us that there were many visitors and party workers at the residence and suggested that in the crowd, someone used the opportunity to steal the weapon,” a police officer said.
The police, who have taken up the complaint, suspect there is more to the story. “It is possible that he misplaced the weapon a while ago, but got anxious following the arrest of head constable Purushthoam Rao for stealing two police issue weapons and the subsequent audit of the armoury,” a senior officer said. “We have written to the official concerned of CAR to take disciplinary action against Murthy for his negligence. We are investigating the matter to ascertain if the weapon was actually stolen,” he said.
