Hyderabad: An Amberpet police station Sub-Inspector who was suspended for mortgaging seized gold and disposing his service revolver due to gambling addiction, was arrested on Saturday, January 10.
The sub-Inspector, identified as Bhanu Prakash Reddy, was accused of mortgaging five tolas of gold jewellery worth approximately Rs 5 lakh that was seized in a theft case. He was charged with selling or misplacing his service pistol, which has yet to be recovered.
Reddy is a 2020 batch SI, who was serving at the law and order in-charge of Sector-1 at the Amberpet police station.
He had earlier worked as a detective sub-inspector at the same police station in June 2025 when the five-tola gold jewellery was seized. He did not deposit the jewellery as per law and kept it with himself.
According to reports, the case was later compromised in a Lok Adalat. The matter came to light on November 14 when Bhanu was directed by his seniors to deposit his service pistol, as he was to report to the Pollution Control Board after securing a post as assistant engineer in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.
When he failed to deposit the weapon, the issue eventually reached Commissioner of Police VC Sajjanar who ordered the inquiry. Police were verifying reports that he could have sold the weapon to factionists in Andhra Pradesh.
Special teams from the city police have been deployed to trace the missing weapon. Investigators visited a lodge in Vijayawada thrice, where Reddy claimed to have misplaced the pistol.
Lodge management informed police that Bhanu was seen carrying a weapon in his room. Backdated CCTV footage from the lodge is also being examined.
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