Amberpet SI Mortgages Service Revolver for Betting
The police found that the Sub-Inspector allegedly mortgaged the seized gold and weapon to meet his financial expenses
Hyderabad: A sub-inspector who became addicted to online betting mortgaged his 9-mm service pistol and five tolas of gold jewellery seized in a theft case. He has been suspended from service after a departmental and Special Branch inquiry proved him guilty.
The accused police officer, SI B. Bhanu Prakash Reddy, posted as law and order sector-1 in-charge at Amberpet Police Station, had earlier worked as Detective Sub-Inspector (DSI) in the same station. In June, he had seized five tolas of gold jewellery in a case involving theft by a domestic help. However, he did not disclose the seized property to the complainant and kept the jewellery at his house. The case was later compromised in the Lok Adalat, a police officer confirmed.
The matter came to light on November 14, when Bhanu, a 2020-batch SI of Hyderabad Zone, was instructed by senior officials to deposit his service pistol before reporting to Andhra Pradesh for bandobast duty, police sources said.
After Bhanu failed to deposit the firearm despite repeated warnings from his in-charge officer, the matter was escalated to senior officials and eventually brought to the notice of city police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar, who ordered an internal and SB inquiry. During questioning, Bhanu admitted that he was addicted to betting and had mortgaged the pistol and the gold, losing the money in online betting, police sources disclosed.
Although the gold has been recovered, the 9mm service pistol is still missing. During interrogation, Bhanu stated that he had collected `40,000 by mortgaging the weapon, but he gave contradictory statements to investigators. It is suspected that he may have sold the firearm, which has not been traced till date, officials said.
A special team from the East Zone Task Force, which also probed the case, collected Bhanu’s call data records (CDR) from June onwards — the period during which he had seized the gold but failed to disclose it officially, police sources added.
Special teams, based on his official and personal CDRs, have also visited his native place in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, in search of the weapon. Efforts are continuing, but the service pistol is yet to be recovered, officials confirmed.
Apart from the money obtained by pledging stolen and seized gold, he reportedly also pledged his wife’s jewellery and lost it in betting.
“Bhanu used to stay awake late in the night gambling on betting apps using his personal mobile phone. We were not aware of this until his family members informed us during the investigation. His official and personal mobile phones have been seized. A factual report has been submitted to the Commissioner, and based on this report, suspension orders were issued,” a police officer disclosed.
