4 men selling stolen onions held

Police said that small thefts of onions had been reported earlier from the area, but because of the small quantities, police complaints were not registered.

However, in these two incidents, FIRs were registered as the value of the stolen onions was at least Rs 1.2 lakh. Police were also getting information that stolen onions were being sold to hotels in the area and in the markets. Though the price of onions has come down in the recent past, it is still very high as compared to the previous year.

Assistant inspector T Y Mujavar of Otur police station said, “We were on the lookout for the suspected thieves and we were in constant touch with the villagers for inputs. A theft of such scale was not possible without a vehicle. We got information from villagers of Dingore that some youths were fighting over division of onions. They were brought in for questioning, and during interrogation, they confessed to the crime.”

Police have identified the arrested suspects as Nilesh Rajendra Ukirde, Akshay Baban Ukirde and Papa Shabir Inamdar, all three from Dingore, and Shashank Shahaji Narawade of Rajewadi village. Police have seized a tempo from them. It was used in
the thefts and harboured over 30 gunny bags of onions.

Deputy superintendent of police Jayashree Desai said, “We suspect involvement of these suspects in more such thefts of onions in the area. Further probe would reveal it.”

Recently, over 400 kgs of onions were also stolen from a market in Pimpri.