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Tomatoes worth ₹3.5 lakh stolen in Bengaluru, couple arrested
Couple arrested for carjacking SUV and stealing tomatoes worth ?3.5 lakh in Bengaluru. Police searching for three others involved.
A couple was arrested on Wednesday, while the search is on for three others, for allegedly carjacking an SUV and stealing tomatoes worth ₹3.5 lakh in RMC Yard area of Bengaluru, police said on Saturday.
Police identified the arrested accused as Bhaskar and his wife Sindhuja, residents of Tamil Nadu.
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A police official familiar with the matter said that the search is on for the rest of the accused who have been identified as Rocky, Kumar, and Mahesh.
The incident took place on July 8 when the accused, upon noticing the goods vehicle, started tailing the tomato-laden vehicle, said a police officer from RMC Yard police station, on anonymity.
“After intercepting the vehicle, the accused faked an accident and assaulted both the farmer and the driver of the Bolero goods vehicle. They coerced the victims into transferring funds electronically to the robbers’ mobile phones under the pretext of compensating for the supposed damages,” said the officer quoted above.
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“The accused forced the farmer to accompany them in the goods vehicle, only to later abandon him forcefully as they escaped with the stolen tomatoes, heading towards Tamil Nadu,” said another senior officer, requesting anonymity.
After stealing the tomatoes, the accused abandoned the stolen vehicle near Peenya in Bengaluru and fled in another unregistered vehicle, said police.
During the probe, the RMC Yard police identified the accused via the CCTV footage and apprehended the couple, said the senior officer.
A case was registered into the matter under Sections 346A (kidnapping, abduction, or wrongful confinement) and 392 (robbery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
This is not first such case as similar cases have been reported amid the surge in commodity prices. Earlier on July 6, tomatoes worth ₹2.5 lakh were stolen from a woman’s farm in Halebeedu, Karnataka.
Currently, tomatoes are priced between ₹100 to 120 per kilogram in Bengaluru.
