Police in the Indian state of Maharashtra on Friday said they were looking for thieves who had stolen 400 kilograms of tomatoes from a farmer’s residence.
Arun Dhome, a resident of Pimparkhed in Pune district, alleged that around 400 kg of harvested tomatoes had been stolen from outside his house.
"The farmer claimed that he had kept the tomatoes in 20 crates in a vehicle parked outside his house on Sunday night," the police said. One crate can carry 20-25 kilograms of tomatoes.
The cost of tomatoes in India have skyrocketed from INR 25 ($0.30) to INR 120-150 ($ ($1.46-1.82) per kg, demonstrating a shocking surge of over 400% due to its scarcity nationwide.
Although the government has taken certain steps to ensure a cooling down of prices, it also said that costs will take some time to go down.