Tomato Heist Again: Truckload Of Kitchen Staple Bound For Jaipur From Karnataka Goes 'Missing'

According to the preliminary inquiry, the huge consignment of tomatoes was apparently delivered at a local vegetable market in Ahmedabad.

A consignment of tomatoes bound for Jaipur went missing on Saturday/Representational Image

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A Jaipur-bound truckload of tomatoes from Karnataka went missing in what is suspected to be another “heist” linked to Karnataka. A trader from Karnataka’s Kolar claimed that he lost touch with the driver and cleaner of his truck, loaded with 11 tonnes of tomatoes worth Rupees 21 lakh. The truck, with 750 crates of tomatoes left the local ‘mandi’ in Kolar on Thursday and was scheduled to reach Jaipur with the consignment on Saturday, as per the complaint registered with the Kolar Police, reported PTI. 

The truck was being tracked through a GPS tracking system and had apparently covered 1,800 kilometres since it left Kolar. The truck was supposed to reach Jaipur’s local market, Mohana Sabji Mandi by Saturday, but when it did not do so, the trader tried to contact the driver but his phone was switched off, a senior police officer said.

The concerned trader then filed a complaint at Kolar police station stating that his truck had gone missing. 

“Based on a complaint received from one of the traders based in Kolar, we have initiated a preliminary inquiry into the matter. No FIR has been registered in the matter yet since we had to verify whether the driver had met with any accident on the way to its destination or if the tomatoes got stolen. So, an inquiry was initiated and we collected details from the complainant in the matter,” the police officer said.

According to the preliminary inquiry, the huge consignment of tomatoes was apparently delivered at a local vegetable market in Ahmedabad, he added, as per the report. 

Vinay Reddy, the trader who sent the tomato consignment, said that his father Muni Reddy filed the police complaint after the truck went "missing".

“We loaded 11 tonnes of tomatoes which were packaged in 750 boxes in a truck from Kolar tomato mandi. The consignment was to be unloaded at Mohana Sabji Mandi, Jaipur by Saturday midnight. The vehicle also had an inbuilt GPS tracking system,” Vinay Reddy, owner of SVT traders, said.

Reddy had spoken to the driver at around 9 pm who assured that he would reach the destination by 11 pm, the report added. “However, in the morning, I got to know that the consignment had not reached the market. When I tried to contact the driver, his phone was also found to be switched off. There was no other way to reach him. So, we had to approach the police here,” he said.

Upon informing his acquaintances in Ahmedabad, Reddy received information from local sources that the tomatoes had been sold at Ahmedabad. He said that the consignment belonged to three parties and that they were also likely to reach Ahmedabad and file a complaint at the local police station there as well.

“We suspect that these tomatoes were sold off by the driver but we still haven’t been able to get in touch with him. It has also come to notice that the same truck was not used to transport the consignment to Ahmedabad. We need to get it verified,” he said.