Shepherd stole AK-47 from police station: Top cop

HYDERABAD: Shepherd Devuni Sadanandam (38) walked into Husnabad police station (PS), opened the room where the firearms were kept (bell of arms), stole an AK-47 and a carbine gun and simply walked away. It reads like a scene straight out of a Telugu potboiler. But, police are convinced this is exactly what had happened in the early hours of March 2017 at the PS where Sadanandam had also managed to steal a magazine containing 30 live rounds.
The Akkannapet village’s shephered has been much in news recently after he turned the AK-47 on his neighbour Gunti Gangaraju (32) on the night of February 7 over a petty row on cement bricks. “Sadanandam waited near the PS till 4 am on Holi festival day that year. After making sure that there was nobody in the front hall of the PS, he picked up the keys hung to the wall. He opened the bell of arms and stole two weapons,” Siddipet in-charge commissioner N Swetha Reddy said.
A police source said the two weapons were issued in the name of constable B Narender, who was gunman of Husnabad inspector. Narender was already booked under section 409 of the IPC. “Sadanandam waited in an underconstruction building near the PS. He entered the PS when the sentry constable fell asleep and took away the two firearms,” said the police source. Curiously, an FIR was lodged on the missing AK-47 on April 18, 2018, more than a year after it went missing from the PS.
Police also said Sadanandam was familiar with Husnabad PS as he had visited the premises multiple times in connection with a domestic violence complaint filed by his wife and another case pertaining to Rs 1 lakh borrowed by a neighbour, Komuravva, in 2016.
“When Sadanandam asked Komuravva to reutrn the money to purchase a house, she refused to do so and he lodged a complaint with Husnabad police. He was attacked by Komuravva’s family members and relatives when he insisted on his money. Sadanandam even approached the Akkannapet police. It was during this time, he got the idea of obtaining a firearm to threaten his enemies,” police mentioned in the remand report of Sadanandam. Komuravva in the mean time returned the money, while Sadanandam hid the two firearms in his house. Three years after he stole the firearms, Sadanandam whipped out the AK-47 and shot at Gangaraju. Luckily, the shepherd missed his shot as the bullet whizzed past the neighbour’s head.
“In fact, he tried to attack Gangaraju on Feb 5 but the assault rife did not fire due to rusting. He then went to Basvapur village where he had worked in a saw mill and purchased machine oil. He went to a hillock in Basvapur, de-assembled the AK-47 using the knowledge he gained by watching Youtube videos and cleaned them with the oil. After ensuring that the rifle is working, he returned to Akkannapet on Feb 6 and opened fire at Gangaraju the next day,” police sources said.
Swetha said of the 30 rounds Sadanandam had stolen, 25 have been recovered.