A Tamil Nadu couple was arrested for hijacking a truck with 2.5 tonnes of tomatoes after faking an accident in Bengaluru near Chikkajala. They sold the tomatoes in Vaniyambadi near Ambur in Tamil Nadu. The incident occurred on July 8 and the tomatoes in the vehicle were worth over Rs 2.5 lakhs.

The police has said that the couple who hails from Vellore, was a part of a gang of highway robbers. They demanded money from Mallesh, a farmer from Hiriyur in Karnataka’s Chitradurga district who was in the truck, as a compensation claiming that the truck had bumped into their car.

As per a PTI report, the farmer was transporting the tomatoes to Kolar and refused to pay the money following which he was assaulted by the gang and the truck loaded with tomatoes was driven away. The victim lodged a complaint, following which the RMC Yard police tracked the vehicle and caught the gang. The accused couple was arrested on Saturday  and was identified as Bhaskar (28) and his wife Sindhuja (26). The other three members of the gang Rocky, Kumar and Mahesh are still absconding.

A case was registered against the accused culprits under the sections 346A (kidnapping, abduction or keeping a person in detention) and 392 (robbery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

As per a News Minute report, the truck carrying tomatoes was noticed by the gang of robbers who then followed the vehicle. They stopped the truck and assaulted the farmer and the driver of a Bolero goods vehicle alleging that their car was hit. The miscreants then demanded money and ended up getting that transferred to their mobile online. Following the money transfer, they got into the goods vehicle with the farmer but later pushed him out and drove the truck carrying tomatoes towards Tamil Nadu.

A CCTV footage was also found by the police officials that indicated clues about the accused couple. The couple who reportedly sold the tomatoes had parked the vehicle near Peenya and Bengaluru, before escaping to Tamil Nadu in another vehicle that did not have a registration number.

The latest prices of tomatoes have gone up to over Rs 100 per kg in markets across the country. Few days back another case of tomato robbery was reported in Karnataka’s Halebeedu. A woman had alleged that tomatoes worth Rs 2.5 lakh were stolen from her farm.

Source: News18