Tomato heist: Transport company owner tracks down the missing tomato-loaded truck to Rajasthan, driver who sold off the tomatoes for a pittance in Ahmedabad

The truck from Kolar carrying 11 tonnes of tomatoes worth ₹21 Lakh, that went missing en route to Jaipur on Saturday evening, has finally been tracked down to Takhatghar in Pali district, Rajasthan. However, the driver, now identified as Anwar Khan, who has abandoned the vehicle near a dhaba in the Rajasthan town and fled, has sold off the tomatoes for a meager ₹5 lakh in Ahmedabad mandi. 

The truck from Kolar carrying 11 tonnes of tomatoes worth ₹21 Lakh, that went missing en route to Jaipur on Saturday evening, has finally been tracked down to Takhatghar in Pali district, Rajasthan. However, the driver, now identified as Anwar Khan, who has abandoned the vehicle near a dhaba in the Rajasthan town and fled, has sold off the tomatoes for a meager ₹5 lakh in Ahmedabad mandi. 

The owner of the Kolar-based transport company, Mohammed Sadiq Khan, who had the contract for transporting the load of tomatoes from Kolar to Jaipur from traders in the town, and was blamed for the theft, initiated a probe out of his own expenses. He not only tracked down the truck to Rajasthan, but also tracked down the trader to whom the truck driver had sold off the tomatoes at a throw away price in Ahmedabad. 

Sadiq Khan contacted the showroom in Rajasthan from where the truck was bought and with their help, tracked down the truck to Takhatghar in the state. The GPS, which the driver had switched off, still recorded the data which led the transport company owner to locate the truck. The GPS data also showed that the truck had made a stop-over at Ahmedabad. Sadiq Khan personally went to Ahmedabad and tracked down the trader to whom the driver Anwar Khan had sold the tomatoes to. 

The truck left Kolar on July 27 carrying the tomato load worth ₹21 lakh to reach Jaipur. On the way the traders lost the trail after the GPS stopped working and the mobile phone of the driver was not reachable. The GPS was switched off at Nasik, Maharashtra. They lodged a complaint with Kolar City Police who initiated measures to track down the truck. Meanwhile, Sadiq Khan, who was held responsible for the heist by the traders, tracked it down. 

“The truck driver approached me for the job and I hired the truck for a commission of ₹2000, to ferry tomatoes from Kolar to Jaipur. I also collected all relevant documents of the driver including Aadhar card, drivers licence and PAN card. As a transport company owner I had done all due diligence before assigning the truck for the trip. I never thought he would do this. For the last one day I have turned a detective, spent over ₹50,000 from my own pocket to save the name of my company,” Sadiq Khan told The Hindu.