A man stole and drove away a police vehicle in Suryapet to meet the wife

A man allegedly stole and drove away a police vehicle in Suryapet district to meet his wife but was later arrested in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

The incident took place on Saturday when Tirupati Lingaraju, allegedly mentally disturbed, drove away vehicle after diverting the attention of the driver, police said on Sunday.

Following the incident, police in neighbouring districts were alerted and with the help of CCTV footage, the vehicle was traced to Khammam, they said.

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Lingaraju, in his 30s, then drove towards Vijayawada, but a police team intercepted him at a check-post in Krishna district late on Saturday night, they added.

Later, it was learnt that he had stolen the vehicle to meet his wife in Jagannathapuram village of Khammam district, police said.

“The man was travelling along with four of his friends in the vehicle. The five have been brought back to Suryapet and interrogation is on,” Suryapet district superintendent of police Prakash Jadhav told PTI over the phone. A case under IPC section 379 (theft) has been registered.