Tamil Nadu couple stage accident; hijack truck with 2.5 tonne tomatoes

Bengaluru: A couple from Tamil Nadu was arrested in Bengaluru for hijacking a truck carrying 2.5 tonnes of tomatoes. They staged an accident to extort money from the truck driver, police said.

The couple from Vellore was part of a gang of highway robbers, that intercepted Mallesh, a farmer from Hiriyur in Chitradurga district, at Chikkajala on July 8 and demanded compensation claiming that his truck had bumped into their car, police said.

When the farmer refused to pay them, the gang assaulted and pushed him out of the truck before driving away with the vehicle loaded with tomatoes worth over Rs 2.5 lakhs.

Tomato prices have shot up to over Rs 100 per kg in markets across the country recently.

Based on the complaint lodged by the farmer, the RMC Yard police tracked the movement of the vehicle and zeroed in on the gang.

Bhaskar (28) and his wife Sindhuja (26) were arrested on Saturday while three others are still on the run, police said.

Mallesh was transporting tomatoes to Kolar when he was waylaid by the gang in Bengaluru.

(With PTI inputs)