Mangaluru: The Uppinangady police arrested a man and recovered a stolen ambulance that went missing from near the Gundya check post in Dakshina Kannada.According to the police, the accused is Shodan, 22, a resident of Karkala, Udupi district. He was secured at Hassan on Dec 20. The accused, a student, is suspected to have been under the influence of alcohol. He was travelling from Udupi to his house in Bengaluru when the bus he was on, halted near Gundya. By the time he returned, the bus had already left. He then attempted to get a lift from lorries and other vehicles. Subsequently, he noticed an ambulance with the key left inside and took it, driving up to Hassan. As the ambulance reportedly had less fuel, he was forced to stop. Suresh, 46, from Kadaba, working as a driver of an ambulance, stated in a complaint that as part of his routine, he used to park the ambulance near the Gundya check post every night, lock it, and return home. Accordingly, on the night of Dec 19, he parked the ambulance near the Gundya check post. As there was a possibility of receiving an emergency call and for the convenience of an alternate driver, he left the ambulance key inside the vehicle. The next morning, when he looked for the ambulance, he found that it was stolen.Following this complaint, a case was registered at Uppinangady police station for offences punishable under section 303(2) of the BNS. During the course of the investigation, with the cooperation of Hassan district police, after interrogation, the accused was arrested, produced before the court, and the stolen ambulance was recovered.
