INSAS rifle theft: one suspect found to be serving Army sepoy

One of the two men who are suspected to have stolen INSAS rifles from the Army cantonment at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh has been identified as a serving Army sepoy, the police said on Saturday.

Earlier, the police had said he was an army officer.

"His name is Harpreet Singh, resident of Miani in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab," a senior official of Madhya Pradesh police said.

A team of MP police has been sent to Punjab for probe he added.

"He is with Sikh regiment, posted at Ramgarh, Bihar. He is on leave without pay since October 15," the official said.

The sepoy had undergone band training at Pachmarhi between March 2018 and June 2018, the official added.

The identity of the other accused was still not known, he said.

As per earlier inputs, they seemed to have crossed into Maharashtra, but now they are suspected to have reached Hoshiarpur, another police officer said.

The duo stole two INSAS rifles from Pachmarhi cantonment in the early hours of December 6, sending the police into a tizzy and forcing them to sound high alert.

The duo posed as army officers, and ordered a sentry at a check post to summon other jawans for assembly. They sent another sentry to call a Junior Commissioned Officer from the camp.

When the two sentries left the check post, the duo picked up their INSAS assault rifles loaded with 20-cartridge magazines, and fled, the police said.

Preliminary investigation found that the duo had arrived at Pipariya railway station in Hoshangabad district after boarding a train in Jabalpur, and hired an SUV to reach Pachmarhi cantonment, 55 km away.

They apparently took the SUV back to the railway station after stealing rifles.

"We have CCTV footage of the accused wearing hooded sweatshirts, getting food packed from a dhaba before committing the theft," Hoshangabad superintendent of police M L Chhari told PTI earlier in the day.

"The SUV driver told us that the duo spoke to each other in Punjabi accent," the SP said.

"The duo entered the Army camp around 1.30 am and left around 3.13 am on Friday," the SP said.

Additional director general of police (ADG) Dr S W Naqvi said the police obtained CCTV footage showing that the duo travelled to Pipariya from Jabalpur.

"We are yet to find out how and where they escaped from the railway station after committing the crime," he said.