Chandigarh: Thieves who had stolen vials of Covishield and Covaxin from a hospital in Haryana returned the vaccines 12 hours later.
Police said the thieves even left behind a note apologising for stealing the vaccines at a time when States are struggling to cope with demand for the life-saving jab.
A total of 1,270 doses of Covishield and 440 doses of Covaxin were stolen from the hospital.
Later, a man came on a motorcycle and left the vaccines at a tea stall outside the Civil Lines police station. He told people at the stall that the package contained food for a police official at the station, the officer said.
The thief also left a note in which he expressed regret over stealing the vaccines. He said that he did not know that these were Covid-19 vaccine.
SHO of Civil Lines police station Rajender Singh said, ‘It is possible that he wanted to steal some other vaccine or drug and returned what he had stolen after learning that it wasn’t that’.