Man steals police patrol vehicle while cops check other vehicles in Suryapet

The incident, which happened when the patrol vehicle was parked on the roadside near the new bus stand at Suryapet, kept the police on tenterhooks for quite some time.

Suryapet: An unidentified man fled with a police patrol vehicle, even as cops were standing nearby checking other vehicles, in the early hours of Thursday. The vehicle was later found abandoned, of all places near a wine shop in Kodad.

The incident, which happened when the patrol vehicle was parked on the roadside near the new bus stand at Suryapet, kept the police on tenterhooks for quite some time. The Suryapet Town I police patrol team had parked the vehicle, leaving the ignition key inside, and were checking vehicles while standing on the opposite side of the road.

The miscreant, who is yet to be identified, is said to have sneaked into the Toyota Innova and sped away, with the cops noticing after a couple of minutes. They immediately alerted higher officials, after which the message was passed on to all other police stations and patrol vehicles. As the police were on the job to track the missing patrol vehicle, the Kodad police found it abandoned near a wine shop on the Huzurnagar road in Kodad and brought it to Suryapet.

The police were making efforts to identify the miscreant by examining CCTV footage from cameras installed near the Suryapet bus-stand.

Three years ago, a youngster had fled with a police vehicle, which was parked near a gym by a Inspector. The vehicle was recovered by the Chillakallu police in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. In that incident too, the police officer had left the key in the ignition while going to the gym. In 2020, a youngster had tried to flee on a police vehicle at Miryalaguda when the police were conducting a drunk and drive check.