Navy Nagar rifle theft case: Accused Agniveer, complainant from same batch, say cops

Mumbai, Sep 11 (PTI) Police investigating the theft of an INSAS rifle allegedly by 22-year-old Agniveer Rakesh Dubbula and his brother at Navy Nagar in south Mumbai have found the former and the complainant in the case are from the same batch, an official said on Thursday.

Both were recruited in 2023, the Mumbai Crime Branch official said.

"With new facts emerging in the case, the Crime Branch is likely to make inquiries with the complainant as well. Meanwhile, Arms Act sections have been added to the case," the official said.

The police have found that Dubbula had travelled from Kochi in Kerala to Mumbai, the official said, adding the two accused carried out the crime on September 6.

"After getting the rifle and magazine, the accused persons went to CSMT, from where they went to Kalyan, Pune, Wadi junction and Secunderabad. As the accused persons are from Asifabad in Telangana, there is an investigation underway to see if they have links to Naxalites," he said.

Police are yet to find out the motive behind the crime, the official added.

Rakesh Ramesh Dubbula (22), an Agniveer (seaman) in the Navy, and his brother Umesh Ramesh Dubbula (25) were nabbed from Telangana.

As per the Crime Branch, on September 6, Rakesh Dubbula, dressed in a naval uniform, approached a junior sailor on sentry duty in a residential area in Navy Nagar and pretended to have come to relieve him.

The unsuspecting sailor gave his rifle and ammunition to Rakesh Dubbula, who, after some time, put the weapon and two magazines, with 20 live cartridges each, in a bag and threw it on the other side of a wall where his brother Umesh was standing. PTI DC BNM