Another 'heist'? Truckload of tomatoes bound for Jaipur from Karnataka goes 'missing'
Bengaluru, July 31: A Jaipur-bound truckload of tomatoes, a precious commodity across the country now, went missing in what is suspected to be another "heist" linked to Karnataka.
A trader has claimed that he lost touch with the driver and cleaner of his truck, which was carrying 11 tonnes of tomatoes from the district headquarters town of Kolar, en route to the Rajasthan capital. A complaint has been filed with Kolar police, in which the trader has alleged that the truck was carrying tomatoes worth Rs 21 lakh.
Representatives at Kolar Agricultural Produce Market Committee, from where the produce left, pegged the price of tomatoes at Rs 160 per kg.
According to the complaint, the truck loaded with 750 crates left the local 'mandi' in Kolar on July 27 and the consignment was scheduled to reach its destination in Jaipur for supply to a local vegetable market there.
The truck, which was being tracked through the GPS tracking system, had apparently covered around 1,800 km since it left Kolar. The vehicle was supposed to reach its destination in Jaipur by Saturday night. 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 the 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.
The Preliminary inquiry has revealed that the huge consignment of tomatoes which was to be unloaded at Jaipur was apparently delivered at a local vegetable market in Ahmedabad, he added.
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 said that he last spoke to the driver around 9 pm on Saturday and he had assured that by 11 pm, the consignment would reach the mandi in Jaipur.
"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.
Reddy said he then informed his acquaintances in Jaipur and later received information from their local sources that the tomatoes had been sold at Ahmedabad.
"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.
Reddy 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.
Earlier this month, tomatoes worth Rs 2.5 lakh were stolen from a farm in Goni Somanahalli village in Belur taluk of Karnataka's Hassan district. Thieves allegedly decamped with 50-60 bags of tomatoes from a woman farmer's agricultural field, following which a case of theft was lodged at the Halebeedu police station.
In another such incident, a couple from neighbouring Tamil Nadu was arrested by the police for hijacking a truck laden with 2.5 tonnes of tomatoes in Bengaluru after faking an accident to extort money.
According to the police, the couple was part of a gang of highway robbers that intercepted Mallesh, a farmer from Hiriyur in Chitradurga district, at Chikkajala on July 8. They demanded money claiming that the farmer's truck had bumped into their car.
The farmer was transporting tomatoes in his Mahindra Bolero jeep to Kolar. When he refused to pay them, the miscreants assaulted him, pushed him out of the truck and drove away with the vehicle loaded with 2.5 tonnes of tomatoes.
Based on the complaint lodged by the farmer, the RMC Yard police tracked the movement of the vehicle and zeroed in on the gang.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
