Not just price, Tomatos can kill too

By Praveen Kumar | NT

Bengaluru: Tomatos are no longer the first thing citizens pick up at the market-most people see red when they spot the fleshy fruit and not surprising considering the current price of `100 per kg or even more.

But when tomatos become the trigger for the deaths of two people, it’s obviously something to seriously ponder over.

It happened at Charakamattenahalli in Chikkaballapura Thursday morning where a 55-year-old land owner had grown tomatos in his field, maybe with an eye on the profits. He had also installed an electric fence around the plot which ensnared a 27-year-old man who tried to steal tomatos from the field and was electrocuted. When the man did not return home, his family started searching for him and found his body in the field. Furious over this, they beat the land owner to death.

The police are checking if the electric connection to the fence was drawn illegally. The land owner is Ashwath Rao, 55, a resident of Chikkahanumenahalli of Gowribidanur while the man who was electrocuted is Vasanth Rao, a resident of Charakamattenahalli