Kolar (Karnataka): A lorry after lifting tomatoes from Kolar's Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yard was on its way to Jaipur in Rajasthan. But, the pricey tomatoes did not reach the destination. The lorry was found empty and abandoned in Rajasthan's Jalore district, the police said on Monday. On July 27, the lorry laden with 750 cartons of tomatoes worth Rs 21 lakhs left from Kolar in Karnataka to Jaipur in Rajasthan was emptied before reaching the designated destination.
The police said that Saqlain of AG Traders and Munireddy of SVT Traders of Kolar APMC marketing yard had dispatched around 750 boxes of tomatoes to Jaipur on July 27 in a lorry belonging to Mehat transport company. The lorry was supposed to reach Jaipur on Sunday night. But since Sunday evening, the lorry and driver Anwar was found "not reachable" over the phone. Sadiq, the owner of Mehat transport company, was also unable to establish contact with the lorry driver. Both the traders then reported the incident to the Kolar Nagar police.
Following the registration of the complaint, the police swung into action and launched an investigation. During the course of the investigation, it was found that the driver Anwar escaped with the lorry without making contact with anyone and sold tomatoes somewhere else. The driver sold the tomatoes to a person named Prakash in Ahmedabad. Later, it was known that he left the lorry at Jalore in Rajasthan and fled. The empty lorry was found near a petrol bunk in Jalore district of Rajasthan, the police said.
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Sadhik, the owner of Mehat transport company in Kolar, has already reached Gujarat in connection with the incident. The owner of the transport company has also lodged a complaint about the incident at the police station concerned in Gujarat. Kolar APMC yard is the second-largest market in Asia for stockpiling tomatoes.
Tomatoes from the Kokar APMC are transported to several states in the country. In order to step up vigil, CCTV cameras have been installed at the APMC market in Kolar as soaring prices of tomatoes have made it the most valuable vegetable produce. Several mandi owners in the country have installed CCTV cameras as well as private security guards have been deputed to keep a vigil on pricey produce.
