The official SUV of an IPS officer was stolen from within a 2km radius of a thana in Ranchi late on Thursday, underscoring that even being a cop doesn't guarantee the safety of your vehicle in this state.

After Jharkhand Police Special Branch SP Ashwini Kumar Sinha retired to his official residence in Chutia for the evening, his driver Tajmul Ansari drove to AG Colony, near Argora police station, for dinner.

Tajmul parked the Bolero (registration number JH-01AC 6984) near a grocery store and walked half a kilometre to buy his meal. When he returned, the SUV was gone.

Argora thana OC Rati Bhan Singh said they had lodged an FIR against unknown people and begun investigations. "The driver had parked the vehicle in AG Colony around 9pm. He found it missing half an hour later," the OC said.

The Special Branch is a police wing that deals with matters of state security. These cops are basically detectives in plain clothes and play a very crucial role in intelligence gathering. Normally, Special Branch officers do not use beacons or police stickers to make their vehicles identifiable, a possible reason why the vehicle-lifters made the dare.

Sources in police said they were scouting for surveillance cameras in the area. "A footage can help us get an ID on the gang or at least clues on where they came from and where they went. We are also checking if there were any police control room van in the vicinity at the time of the incident," an officer said.

SP Sinha, posted at Special Branch for a year now and recently promoted as IPS, was not available for comments. His phone remained switched off through the day.

But, sources revealed that the theft had sent the police department into a tizzy. ADG (Special Branch) Anurag Gupta is learnt to have pressed a special team into service to probe the matter.

"Police are scanning every record of known and suspected criminals who were earlier involved in vehicle thefts," a source added.