While households cry over soaring onion prices, there are people who see an opportunity in this. The greed for making a fast buck drove three youths to hijack a lorry laden with onions on August 31. On Wednesday, the Kolar Town police succeeded in solving the case by arresting one of the three accused of the crime. Venkatesh (22) was arrested while his two accomplices — Premkumar and Prabhu — are absconding. Motorcycle-borne Venkatesh, a resident of Malur taluk, along with his associates, allegedly intercepted the truck on a flyover on NH 75 on the outskirts of Kolar town at midnight on August 31.
Packed in 380 bags, 20 tonnes of onion worth Rs. 9 lakh was being transported from Bengaluru to Tadepalli in Andhra Pradesh. Two among the trio got into the truck cabin and threatened the driver, M. Karappan, at knifepoint. They robbed Rs. 24,000 in cash and a mobile from Karappan, pushed him off the truck and drove it away. The third associate followed on the motorcycle. Karappan filed a complaint with the police the next day. He also gave the motorbike registration number to the police.
On Wednesday afternoon, the police traced Venkatesh near the APMC Yard in Malur where he was trying to make a deal to sell the load of onions for just Rs. 2 lakh. The police recovered the truck worth Rs. 21 lakh and the full load of onions. They also recovered Rs. 17,000 in cash, a knife and the motorcycle.
Venkatesh confessed to the crime, sub-inspector Lakshminarayan told The Hindu on Thursday.
