Burglars broke into 21 vegetable shops to steal only tomatoes, leaving cash behind

With the price of tomatoes soaring in India, they are now given bigger importance than gold or silver for burglars. At Sabzi Mandi, near Kotwali police station in Dausa, Rajasthan, burglars decamped with close to 75 kg of tomatoes from various vegetables shops.

As the vegetable vendors went to open their shops on Thursday morning at 6 am they were taken aback when they saw the iron kiosks had been broken into. Though stunned by the burglary, they were amused when they realised that the burglars had taken only tomatoes. As many as 21 shops had broken locks.



"As a matter of practice, the shopkeepers leave coins in their cash boxes but they were not touched. Roughly 75 kg of tomatoes were stolen. We have registered a complaint after the retailers complained and are investigating the matter," said an investigative officer of the Kotwali police station. The market is just a few metres away from Kotwali police station.

"We had unloaded the fresh vegetables including tomatoes and onions on Wednesday night and after locking the kiosks and shops, we left at one in the morning on Thursday. The burglars left all other vegetables other than tomatoes," said Radheyshyam, one of the victims of the burglary. Initially, when the shopkeepers approached the nearby Kotwali police station to complain about the matter, policemen also laughed at the development.