Tomato robbers alert! Tamil Nadu couple arrested for hijacking truck carrying 2.5 tonnes of tomatoes

A couple from Tamil Nadu was arrested after they pretended to be in an accident in order to rob a truck carrying 2.5 tonnes of tomatoes. According to the police, the couple was from Vellore and a member of a group of highway robbers who stopped Mallesh, a farmer from Hiriyur in the Chitradurga district, on July 8 and demanded compensation, claiming that his truck had collided with their vehicle.

The gang assaulted and pushed the farmer out of the truck when he refused to pay them. After that, the gang drove away with the vehicle loaded with 2.5 tonnes of tomatoes worth over 2.5 lakhs.

The RMC Yard police followed the movement of the car and identified the gang after the farmer lodged a complaint against the gang. According to the police, Bhaskar (28) and his wife Sindhuja (26) were arrested on Saturday, while three other people are still on the run. Mallesh was being held up by the gang in Bengaluru while delivering tomatoes to Kolar.

Retail prices of tomatoes have surged to Rs 200-250 per kilogram in various regions of the country due to disruptions in the supply chain caused by monsoon rains and other related issues.

Previously, Ajay Fauji, a grocery store owner and also a Samajwadi Party (SP) worker in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi’s Lanka area, hired two professional bodyguards to ‘guard’ the tomatoes at his shop. He said that he deployed the bouncers to prevent buyers from getting aggressive while haggling over tomato prices,

In response to this situation of rising tomato prices in the country, the government has taken several initiatives to alleviate the burden on consumers and provide relief. However, despite these efforts, tomato prices remain a cause of concern for many people.

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