In a bizarre incident, a couple from Tamil Nadu has been arrested for hijacking a truck laden with 2.5 tonnes of tomatoes by faking an accident to extort money, reported PTI. The Vellore couple was part of a gang of highway robbers, PTI stated citing police. They intercepted Mallesh, a farmer from Hiriyur in Chitradurga district, at Chikkajala on July 8 and sought compensation claiming that his truck had bumped into their car. 


The gang assaulted the farmer after he refused to pay them. They pushed him out of the truck before driving away with the vehicle loaded with tomatoes worth over Rs 2.5 lakhs, stated the PTI report. Notably, tomato prices have soared up to over Rs 100 per kg in markets across the country recently. 


The farmer then lodged a complaint based on which the RMC Yard police tracked the movement of the vehicle and zeroed in on the gang. The couple - Bhaskar (28) and his wife Sindhuja (26)-- were arrested on Saturday while three others are still on the run, they said, as quoted by PTI. 


As per the report, Mallesh was transporting tomatoes to Kolar when he was attacked by the gang in Bengaluru. 


Earlier this week, a farmer from Maharashtra's Pune approached the police alleging that his 400 kg of tomatoes have been stolen, PTI reported citing an official. The farmer told the police that he has lost nearly Rs 20,000 due to the theft. Notably, the kitchen staple is selling between Rs 100 and Rs 200 a kilo in several states. Complainant Arun Dhome told the police that he brought tomatoes to his home in Shirur tehsil in a vehicle with the help of labourers after harvesting them from his farm on Sunday, as per PTI. 


He said that he had planned to sell the tomatoes in the market. However, he said, he found 20 crates of the precious vegetable weighing 400 kg missing when he woke up in the morning, PTI stated. 


"After realising that his tomatoes had been stolen, Dhome approached the Shirur police station and lodged a complaint," the official was quoted as saying by PTI. According to the police, a case has been and an investigation is on. 


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