New Delhi: Twelve sacks of lemon weighing over 70kg and worth Rs 60,000-70,000 were stolen from a market at Modinagar in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday night, police said. According to the police officials, the incident took place around 2am when the accused arrived on a motorcycle and a mini-truck, loaded the lemon sacks onto the mini-truck and fled the spot within a few minutes. The entire act has been caught on the CCTV cameras, police said.
According to Circle officer Akash Patel, the vegetable vendor, Rashid, had closed his shop at 12.30am that night.
“When he returned at 4am, he found that some sacks of lemon, weighing over 70 kg, had been missing. The accused arrived in a mini-truck and escaped within a few minutes. The accused are yet to be arrested,” a report by The Indian Express quoted Patel as saying.
The vendor, as per the report, said, “I had ordered the stock of vegetables from the Azadpur mandi. Around 12.45am, the vegetables, including lemon, were delivered at the shop in the presence of the grain porter. The stock was worth Rs 60,000-70,000. At 4am, I found out that the lemon sacks had been stolen. I checked with the porter and the dealer and they informed me that the entire consignment had been delivered.”
Notably, the CCTV footage of the incident shows a motorcycle-borne man doing a recce of the area after which a mini-truck arrived.
Rashid further said that the security guard of the market area was patrolling on the other side when the incident took place.
The police said that they have registered a case against unidentified people under Section 380 (theft in dwelling, house etc) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Modinagar station.