On March 19, on a tip off, the Thirupananthal police arrested three persons and seized eight weapons, including two belt revolver, one revolver and five air guns and as many as 67 bullets and kept the seized weapons at arms stock room at Thirupananthal police station.

Meanwhile, on August 18, while the police were trying to hand over the seized weapons to the court, they found a revolver and pellets air gun missing. Subsequently, Thanjavur SP Deshmukh Shekar Sanjay formed a seven-member special team which commenced investigation. The team suspected police constable Deepak (26) and his friend Vasudevan (23) based on the CCTV footage. Subsequently, the police arrested the duo early on Friday.

Police said that Deepak had been eyeing the weapons for a few days and he managed to take two weapons and handed over them to his friend Vasudevan. Police also found that Deepak was speaking to Vasudevan over phone about the stolen weapons. The duo confessed their crime during interrogation and so the police arrested them.