The price of tomato has reached above Rs 150 in the market. The rising prices of tomatoes may have brought some relief to the farmers. But because of this tomato, many criminal incidents are also happening. Where tomatoes are being snatched from someone after beating them, at some places tomatoes worth lakhs were stolen from someone’s farm. Now a latest incident is coming from Andhra Pradesh. Where a tomato farmer living in Bodimalladine village of Madanapalle mandal was murdered by robbers.
A few days back, he had earned lakhs by selling tomatoes.
The 62-year-old farmer, identified as Narem Rajasekhara Reddy, was found dead on the outskirts of his village on Wednesday. The police suspect that Rajasekhar was killed after an attempted robbery, when he had earned a substantial amount by selling tomatoes in the market. According to the police, when tomatoes were expensive, this farmer had sold a lot of tomatoes a few days ago and earned around Rs 30 lakh. Such apprehension is being expressed that the farmer lost his life in the affair of this money.
Police engaged in investigation
According to the police, the incident took place on Tuesday night when Rajasekhar, a resident of an agricultural area away from Bodimalladin, was going to the village to deliver milk. In the investigation, it was found that some unknown assailants stopped the farmer, tied his hands and feet with a rope and strangled him to death with a towel. The deceased is survived by his wife and two married daughters, who live in Bangalore. At present, the police is probing the matter.
murder for greed of money
The attackers have not been identified yet. Police sub-inspector R Gangadhar Rao visited the crime scene and spoke to the family members of the deceased. The wife of the deceased farmer told the police that some unknown people had come to their farm on Tuesday evening on the pretext of buying tomatoes. On being told that Rajasekhar had gone to the village to sell milk, they left. On the other hand, the local people say that Rajasekhar had recently earned about 30 lakhs by selling tomatoes in the agriculture market of Madanapalle area. The police suspect that he might have been murdered because of greed for money. DSP K Kesappa said that four teams have been formed to solve the case. The police deployed a sniffer dog, which went from the crime scene to the victim’s house, he said.
For the first time, there was such a jump in the prices of tomatoes.
In many parts of the state, one kg of tomato is now being sold above Rs 150. Tomato farmers, who used to get hardly Rs 2 per kg in the market in normal days, are now getting Rs 80 to 150 per kg. Price fluctuations are common, but this is the first time that tomato prices have crossed Rs 150 in the retail market. A few years back, it had reached up to 100 per kg. The Madanapalle area is known for its tomato crop and on many occasions farmers have been seen throwing the produce by the roadside as they could not even afford the transport charges to take the produce to the market.
