Tirupati, Jun 13 (IANS): A police patrol vehicle was stolen from Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor town by a man, who drove it to neighbouring Tamil Nadu, police said on Tuesday.

The bizarre incident occurred on Monday but police traced the vehicle and brought it back the same day.

The Rakshak vehicle, which was parked in front of the One Town police station, was found missing. This sent the police into a tizzy and a frantic search began across the town to trace the vehicle.

After examining the CCTV footage, the police officers found that the vehicle headed towards the Tamil Nadu border. They immediately contacted their counterparts in Tamil Nadu and the vehicle was finally intercepted at Tindivanam town in the neighbouring state.

A police team from Chittoor went to Tamil Nadu and brought back the vehicle along with the thief.

The suspect was roaming around the police station and since he found the police vehicle unlocked, he started it and took it away. Since it was a police vehicle, no one stopped him at the inter-state border. Police were questioning the accused.